Stocks streaked lower yesterday driving the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 to its lowest close in 29 months as the market's malaise over weak earnings turned more acute with another rash of downward, bottom-line revisions.

The tension between US and Chinese governments over the fate of the US Navy spy plane that was forced to land on an island off the coast of China cast another unknown into nervous markets.

The selling was deep and wide amid heavy trading volume, with communication, software and Internet companies facing the brunt of the exodus. Gold-mining companies, a traditional bear-market refuge, was the sole market group to rise on the day.

Dismal profit pictures from a long line of high-tech firms slammed investor sentiment just as the first-quarter earnings warnings season heats up. Investors fear more companies will surrender to the sputtering economy and confess to disappointing earnings in the weeks ahead.