Stocks Battered Again

Investors found more reasons to sell stocks Thursday, sending the Nasdaq to a new yearly low on rising Mideast tensions, a Wal-Mart downgrade, a Ford dividend cut and disappointing results from SAP .

SAP tumbled 7% after new software license sales came in well below estimates, as the business software giant lost market share to Oracle and Microsoft in the quarter, but the company reiterated expectations for 15-17% growth for the full year. Still, the results were enough to spook investors already worried about a slowdown.

The Nasdaq fell 36 to 2054, the S&P 500 lost 16 to 1242, and the Dow tumbled 166 to 10,846. Volume rose to 2.55 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.07 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 25-8 on the NYSE, and 24-6 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 87% on the NYSE, and 87% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 23-149 on the NYSE, and 35-211 on the Nasdaq.

Cree , Multi Fineline , Sento , Sypris and Tekelec fell on their results.