Stocks were down sharply today, pulling the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index away from the records they set on Thursday. The Dow dropped 149.33 to close at 13,851.08.

Driving the sell-off was investors' disappointment over earnings from a number of bold-faced market names, including Google, Caterpillar, and Ericsson. Google shares were down more than 5 percent, and other technology giants fell as well, including Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and I.B.M. Caterpillar was down 4 percent.

Concerns that problems with subprime mortgages are still having significant ripple effects in the credit markets also weighed on stocks. Shares of financial services companies like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch lost nearly 4 percent. Even Citigroup, which reported second-quarter results that topped forecasts, lost ground.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite index also shed more than 1 percent.