Investors feel pain of 3 days of losses

NEW YORK — Stocks dropped Wednesday, extending investors' losses for the third straight session and pushing the Dow Jones industrial average below 11,000 for the first time since March 9.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 71.24 to 10,930.90.

Microsoft, one of the 30 Dow stocks, fell 9 cents to close at $22.04 a share. Boeing, also a Dow stock, gained 81 cents to $81.46.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7.70 to 1,256.15, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 10.98 to 2,151.80.

The Dow has lost more than 316 points this week; the sell-off has also wiped out the Nasdaq composite index's gains for the year and put the Standard & Poor's 500 index less than 8 points away from its Dec. 31 close.

With little economic data or corporate news to move stocks, traders were left to decide whether the week's tumble was a buying opportunity or a harbinger of worse days ahead. Stocks spent most of the day higher, but the advance-decline line was narrow and the market turned negative in late afternoon.

Volume was light, as it has been all week, which some investors say is a sign of more losses to come.

"When we have big down days on big volume, that's a sign of capitulation," said Chris Johnson, manager of quantitative analysis at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati. "Monday and Tuesday, we saw selling, but it wasn't the type of volume we like to see for short-term buying opportunities. ... All the sellers aren't out of this market yet."

European markets closed higher after their Tuesday swoon, but Asian stocks continued to tremble. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 5.36 percent, its biggest fall in more than four years, on fears that new share issues may outstrip demand. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell to its lowest close in six months on concerns over U.S. interest rates and the arrest this week of a high-profile fund manager.

Oil prices fell substantially, giving the market its early-session boost. A barrel of light crude settled at $70.82, down $1.68, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Equity investors, consumed with worry over the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policy, have sent stocks on a roller-coaster ride over the past four weeks, driving them down from near record highs, then building them up again.

"We're in one of these data-driven revolving door kind of periods," said Philip Dow, managing director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis. "We're going to get some more volatility before we get on a clearer path to what really is neutral at the Fed."