NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks tanked Wednesday for the fifth session in a row, with the Dow industrials and Standard & Poor's 500 erasing their 2003 gains amid war worries and ho-hum corporate results.

Unfortunately, there's not much to suggest that Thursday's market will be much different.

Thursday brings a whole new spate of earnings reports, as well as other reports on weekly jobless claims and the index of leading economic indicators.

Before the open of trade, Dow component AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) is expected to post earnings of 71 cents per share, up from 25 cents a year earlier. Fellow Dow stock McDonald's (MCD: Research, Estimates) is forecast to have earned 25 cents per share, down from 34 cents a year earlier. Additionally, Caterpillar (CAT: Research, Estimates) is expected to have earned 68 cents per share, down from 76 cents a year earlier.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: Research, Estimates), BellSouth (BLS: Research, Estimates), Eli Lilly (LLY: Research, Estimates) and Nokia (NOK: Research, Estimates) are also expected to divulge their profits before the bell.

After the close of trade, Amgen (AMGN: Research, Estimates), Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates), KLA-Tencor (KLAC: Research, Estimates), JDS Uniphase (JDSU: Research, Estimates), Nortel Networks (NT: Research, Estimates) and Starbucks (SBUX: Research, Estimates) are due to report.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 124.17 to 8318.73, Charts) dropped 1.5 percent, wiping out all of its gains for the year. The Dow closed out 2002 at 8,341.63. The S&P 500 index (down 9.26 to 878.36, Charts) lost around 1 percent, its 2003 advance evaporating. The index closed out 2002 at 879.82.

The Nasdaq composite (down 4.77 to 1359.48, Charts) closed little changed after trading on both sides of breakeven throughout the session. The composite isn't far ahead of the Dow. It closed out 2002 at 1,335.51.

"The rally in the first two weeks of January was based on expectations that we would have a decent reporting period," said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. "Largely, that's been true, with many earnings reports meeting or topping estimates. But unfortunately, the commentary about the future has been a huge downer. That's one of the things holding investors back now."

Blue-chip selling and war concerns burdened the broader market Wednesday, while the Nasdaq managed only a modest loss due to small gains in a variety of technology stocks.

"Investors' vision is being blurred by what's going on overseas," Riley added. "War news is a convenient excuse to sell."

Shares of Eastman Kodak, J.P. Morgan Chase, General Dynamics and others were punished, showing investors' disappointment in the companies' quarterly results and forecasts.

Additionally, a number of technology companies reported results after the close of trade.

Computer Associates (CA: Research, Estimates) earned 5 cents per share in its fiscal third quarter, a penny better than expected but down from the 71 cents it earned a year earlier. The firm also issued fourth-quarter earnings per share guidance that should meet or beat estimates on revenue that will miss current estimates.

Business software maker PeopleSoft (PSFT: Research, Estimates) earned 18 cents per share, 4 cents better than expected and in line with results a year earlier.

Telecommunications firm Qualcomm (QCOM: Research, Estimates) earned 42 cents per share, a nickel better than expected and up from the 23 cents it earned a year earlier. The firm also said its current quarter and full-year results will top analysts' estimates.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments (TXN: Research, Estimates) earned 6 cents per share, 3 cents better than expected and an improvement over the loss of 6 cents per share it reported a year earlier. The firm expects the current quarter to top estimates by a few pennies.

The parade of Dow stocks reporting their latest results continued Wednesday.

One of the rare Dow issues to show a gain for 2002, Eastman Kodak (EK: down $4.41 to $33.18, Research, Estimates), saw its shares drop more than 11 percent after the company reported a fourth-quarter profit that missed expectations and said a weak economy and war worries would mean less profit in 2003. Kodak also said it was laying off 2,900 people, largely in the United States and Western Europe.

Shares of J.P. Morgan (JPM: down $0.72 to $24.70, Research, Estimates) were more than 2 percent lower after the firm revealed an operating loss that was two pennies narrower than expected and excluded charges related to Enron, a conflict of interest settlement with the New York State attorney general and merger-related costs.

Shares of American Airlines parent AMR (AMR: down $1.13 to $3.77, Research, Estimates) plunged 23 percent. The company reported a full-year loss that was nearly double that of a year earlier and its chairman said AMR must find a way to cut labor and other costs if it's going to survive. The stock had already lost 13 percent in the previous session. The impact was felt by other airline stocks, as well as the Dow Transportation average (down 67.60 to 2213.63, Charts), which lost about 3 percent.

Shares of defense contractor General Dynamics (GD: down $8.86 to $64.85, Research, Estimates) lost 12 percent after the company reported a fourth-quarter profit that was better than a year earlier but missed estimates. The company also warned that its 2003 earnings per share won't meet expectations.

Motorola (MOT: down $0.22 to $8.53, Research, Estimates) lost more than 2 percent after warning that its first-quarter sales would be weaker than previously expected, even as it stood by its full-year forecasts. Motorola also reported fourth-quarter results that were better than expected.

But Pfizer (PFE: up $0.21 to $30.71, Research, Estimates) drifted higher after reporting a fourth-quarter profit that was better than expected.

Some chip and chip equipment names gained, with stocks such as Applied Materials (AMAT: up $0.26 to $13.78, Research, Estimates) and KLA-Tencor (KLAC: up $0.50 to $36.23, Research, Estimates) rising after a trade group report showed the equipment market stabilizing in December.

The book to bill ratio -- a measure of orders for chip equipment from North American manufacturers -- gained 8 percent in December from the previous month, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, a trade group. For every 98 dollars of new orders received for chip gear, 100 dollars of products were shipped out. North American manufacturers of chip equipment account for around half of the total world market.

However, on the downside, shares of chipmakers Xilinx (XLNX: down $1.06 to $21.50, Research, Estimates) and R.F. Micro Devices (RFMD: down $0.50 to $6.41, Research, Estimates) fell after the companies issued mixed forecasts.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by more than 5 to 3 as 1.54 billion shares traded. On the Nasdaq, decliners outpaced advancers 10 to 7 as 1.49 billion shares changed hands.

Bonds gained, with the benchmark 10-year note adding 1/2 a point in price, pushing the yield down to 3.90 percent from 4.01 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The dollar was little changed versus the euro and was fractionally higher versus the yen.

Among major commodities, gold rose $2.40 to $359.90 an ounce in New York, benefiting from the escalation of tension between the United States and Iraq. The metal also got some shine from Merrill Lynch's decision to up its spot gold price estimates for 2003-2005.

The firm also raised 2003 estimates on a number of gold miners based on the assumption that gold will be a good investment this year. Placer Dome (PDG: up $0.22 to $11.50, Research, Estimates), Barrick Gold (ABX: up $0.37 to $16.04, Research, Estimates) and Glamis Gold (GLG: up $0.59 to $12.49, Research, Estimates) were among the names cited.

Light crude oil futures for March delivery fell 34 cents to $32.85 a barrel in New York.