NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks opened sharply lower after a weaker-than-expected durable-good orders report triggered fears that economic growth is slowing. Durable-goods orders fell 3.4% in December, raising questions about whether businesses are really ready to ramp up investment in 2015. A string of disappointing earnings reports from the likes of Microsoft Corp., Caterpillar Inc., DuPont and Freeport-MoMoRan Inc. also dented sentiment. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.95% opened 23 points, or 1.2%, lower at 2,033. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.31% dropped 263 points, or 1.5%, to 17,411. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.98% began the day with a loss of 75 points, or 1.6%, at 4,695 
 
 Read the full story: U.S. stocks slide on weak data, earnings ||||| The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished a wild Wednesday sharply lower, but the stock market recouped much of the losses that briefly sent the Dow tumbling more than 450 points. 
 
 Heavy waves of selling hit stocks early on Wednesday, marking an acceleration of the recent selloff sparked by fears of a global economic slowdown, dangerously low inflation in Europe and ripples from a steep drop in oil prices. 
 
 The Dow industrials declined 173.45 points, or 1.1%, to close at 16141.74, but earlier the index had declined as many as 460 points. 
 
 U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday, driving the Dow down over 300 points. What can calm the markets? Silvercrest's Patrick Chovanec discusses with Sara Murray. Photo: Getty 
 
 Recently hard-hit corners of the market rebounded to finish in positive territory. The Russell 2000 Index of small U.S. companies turned positive to finish up 1% after a stretch of sharp declines. Energy stocks also rallied. 
 
 Traders said wide swings across stock and bond markets appeared to be magnified by hedge funds frantically looking to exit money-losing investments. Wednesday’s dismal trading had the hallmarks of forced selling by managers who were pressured to unwind risky bets that were losing money fast. 
 
 After days of persistent selling, buyers materialized Wednesday afternoon to boost the market off its lows in trading volume that was the heaviest in nearly three years, with 11.77 billion shares changing hands. 
 
 “Late in the day here I think we’re seeing stronger hands starting to take positions based on valuations,” said Eric Schlanger, head of equities for the Americas at Barclays. 
 
 The S&P 500 fell 15.21 points, or 0.8%, to 1862.69, while the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 11.85 points, or 0.3%, to 4215.32. Since hitting an all-time high on Sept. 18, the S&P 500 is down 7.4%. 
 
 Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors, which manages $350 billion, told some of the firm’s biggest clients on a conference call this morning not to panic despite the recent downdraft. 
 
 “I see the noise and it’s ugly,” Mr. Orlando said. “But understand the big picture: if you’re a long-term investor with the ability to look out beyond a few years, you’ll look back and say, this was a chance to pick up stocks I missed on the way up.” 
 
 As stocks sold off, investors flocked to safe-haven government bonds, though bond yields rose off of earlier lows. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.091%, from 2.206% late on Tuesday, after briefly falling below 2% for the first time since June 2013. Yields fall as prices rise. 
 
 Swings extended to U.S. crude-oil futures, where prices extended recent losses to settle down 0.1% to $81.78 a barrel. 
 
 “A lot of people, even the most experienced guys, are dazed by this price action,” said Michael Purves, head of equity derivatives research at Weeden & Co. 
 
 In recent weeks, traders have said flows have been dominated by short-term traders and hedge funds with high-conviction bets in the energy sector and other hard-hit corners of the market. Other investors who generate buy and sell signals from readings of market momentum have been flipping from stock exchange-traded funds into bonds or cash, traders have said. 
 
 After falling early Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was on track for a five-session losing streak. Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Associated Press 
 
 Further evidence of concentrated losses appeared after pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. ABBV +0.89% AbbVie Inc. U.S.: NYSE $53.37 +0.47 +0.89% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 31.75M AFTER HOURS $53.37 0.00 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 140,562 P/E Ratio 20.53 Market Cap $84.20 Billion Dividend Yield 3.15% Rev. per Employee $770,320 10/17/14 Holman Jenkins: How Obama Kill... 10/17/14 Dept. of Irony: AbbVie Can Tak... 10/17/14 Quote of the Week: AbbVie’s Ab... More quote details and news » ABBV in Your Value Your Change Short position said it was reconsidering its planned $54 billion purchase of Shire SHPG +0.39% Shire PLC ADS U.S.: Nasdaq $179.16 +0.70 +0.39% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.29M AFTER HOURS $178.70 -0.46 -0.25% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 205,989 P/E Ratio 30.34 Market Cap $35.12 Billion Dividend Yield 0.13% Rev. per Employee $1,046,870 10/17/14 Holman Jenkins: How Obama Kill... 10/17/14 Dept. of Irony: AbbVie Can Tak... 10/17/14 Deals of the Day: Scars From A... More quote details and news » SHPG in Your Value Your Change Short position PLC because of new U.S. tax rules. Shares of AbbVie rose 0.9% in New York, while Shire tumbled 22% in London. 
 
 Traders said the drop has affected many hedge funds that had crowded into Shire. As of Sept. 24, the top eight hedge-fund holders of Shire shares had some $8 billion in investments riding on the deal, according to regulatory filings. 
 
 “There’s a lot of pain out there,” said Dave Lutz, head of exchange-traded fund trading at JonesTrading Institutional Services. 
 
 Shares of airlines fell sharply after reports that the second Texas health-care worker to be diagnosed with Ebola flew from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport the night before she reported symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL +2.08% United Continental Holdings Inc. U.S.: NYSE $44.68 +0.91 +2.08% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.64M AFTER HOURS $44.58 -0.10 -0.22% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2,107 P/E Ratio 23.52 Market Cap $16.19 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $443,471 10/15/14 U.S. Stocks Slide But Come Off... 10/15/14 For Ebola’s Market Impact, Fol... 10/14/14 Market Swoon Bruises Some Hedg... More quote details and news » UAL in Your Value Your Change Short position fell 1.4%, while Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL +3.21% Delta Air Lines Inc. U.S.: NYSE $34.39 +1.07 +3.21% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 21.39M AFTER HOURS $34.60 +0.21 +0.61% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 115,098 P/E Ratio 2.95 Market Cap $28.09 Billion Dividend Yield 1.05% Rev. per Employee $511,298 10/16/14 Delta Air Lines Sees No Effect... 10/16/14 Morning MoneyBeat: Was That Ca... 10/16/14 How Asian Airlines’ Pricey New... More quote details and news » DAL in Your Value Your Change Short position declined 1.2%. 
 
 In recent weeks, investors have said that they were looking forward to third-quarter corporate earnings season to deflect the market’s focus from growth concerns, Fed worries and headlines about the Middle East or the Ebola virus. 
 
 But these same headlines have stolen the show as major U.S. companies post their quarterly reports. 
 
 Bank of America Corp. BAC +0.81% Bank of America Corp. U.S.: NYSE $16.21 +0.13 +0.81% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 91.63M AFTER HOURS $16.21 0.00 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.71M P/E Ratio 37.70 Market Cap $169.10 Billion Dividend Yield 1.23% Rev. per Employee $398,702 10/17/14 The Bond Market 10/17/14 Morgan Stanley’s 3Q Financial ... 10/16/14 U.S. to Boost Security for Gov... More quote details and news » BAC in Your Value Your Change Short position fell 4.6% after reporting a third-quarter profit of $168 million versus $2.5 billion a year ago. The bank posted a per-share loss of a penny, beating expectations. 
 
 Before the opening bell, the Empire State’s business conditions index fell to 6.17 in October from 27.54 in September, while retail sales fell 0.3% in September from August to $442.7 billion. 
 
 Separately, the U.S. producer-price index fell 0.1% in September from August, the Labor Department said. The surprise decline was the first in more than a year, and economists had expected a 0.1% increase. 
 
 —Corrie Driebusch, Saumya Vaishampayan and Alexandra Scaggs contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Chris Dieterich at christopher.dieterich@wsj.com
– It's a miserable day on Wall Street so far, with the Dow plunging more than 370 points about an hour after the open. MarketWatch says one of the driving factors is a weak report on durable-goods orders, which suggests that businesses are worried about a slowdown rather than investing in growth. Also not helping: disappointing quarterly results from a slew of blue-chip companies, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were down 2.2% and 1.7% respectively.