The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index continued to find new lows for the year, plunging more than 34 points to beneath 1,225, about a 2.75% drop. While this has been a strong earnings season for companies on the S&P 500, traders are focusing on the grim economic outlook for both the United States and Europe.

Debt problems are emerging in both Italy and Spain, and the debt ceiling agreement in the United States also does not contain cuts for entitlement programs, which are the great bulk of federal spending. For the year, the S&P is down more than 2.15%.

Continuing to plunge was MetroPCS Communications (NYSE:PCS), losing more than 12% a share to under $9, a loss of about $1.25. Poor earnings have PCS down about 40% for the week with very long candlestick bodies.

A poor earnings outlook had MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE:WFR) down more than 10%, dropping more than 75 cents to under $6.25. Also, two downgrades were issued today for MEMC.

Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR) was down more than 11% to under $35.50, losing more than $4.60 per share because of a reported loss. The stock is now off more than 8% for the week.

Teradata Corporation (NYSE:TDC) was up about 6% to over $58, picking up more than $3 per share as the tech company reported earnings that pleased Wall Street. Teradata has been down more than 11% for the month.

DaVita Corp (NYSE:DVA) was up about $3, or 2.5%, to around $83.90 as its earnings met with the approval of investors. The heath services company is now trading 10% beneath its year high. In July, there were two positive analyst recommendations for DaVita.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) was up more than 2%, about $1.50, to over $73 as rising revenue figures were welcomed by traders. July retail numbers were also solid.

Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.