Gloomy Data Spook Stocks; Dow Falls 100

Wall Street's double-dip fears were revived Thursday morning as the Dow dropped 150 points in the wake of a nine-month high for weekly jobless claims and a surprisingly gloomy regional manufacturing report. Today’s Markets As of 10:15 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 118.82 points, or 1.12%, to 10298.19, the Standard & Poor's 500 sank 13.38 points, or 1.22%, to 1080.91 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 24.88 points, or 1.12%, to 2190.91. The FOX 50 slid 9.68 points, or 1.22%, to 782.32. After opening modestly lower on the jobless claims data, Wall Street hit session lows after the Philadelphia Fed said its manufacturing index for August unexpectedly turned negative in August. The weaker-than-expected manufacturing and labor reports follow a string of economic indicators that suggest the recovery has slowed down or even stalled, leading some to worry about a double-dip recession. The gloomy economic data overshadowed a positive development in the tech sector as chip giant Intel INTC jumped into the security business by scooping up McAfee MFE for $7.68 billion in cash. Wall Street also received a mixed bag of earnings as Williams Sonoma WSM solidly beat the Street, but Sears SHLD and Staples SPLS posted weaker-than-expected sales figures. All 30 blue-chip stocks were in the red in recent action, led by economically-sensitive Boeing BA, General Electric GE and Intel. The index's best performers were defensive plays Wal-Mart WMT and Pfizer PFE. To read the rest, head over to FOX Business.