U.S. Stocks Fall Hard As Economy Weighs

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks thudded lower on Thursday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 into correction territory, as Wall Street retreated down a wall of economic worry.

One market strategist said both the Main Street and Wall Street are suffering from crisis fatigue after "two weeks of Washington putting us over the edge" before reaching a deal to hike the federal debt limit.

"We're just worrying ourselves to death," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank. "How do you get out of this roller coaster of the relentless onslaught of bad news? Look at the data, it's not that bad, it's showing the economy is still growing, that this is a soft patch with expectation that things will improve in the third quarter."

Ahead of the opening bell, the Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 400,000; initial claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 401,000.