NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks got slammed Wednesday, with investors worried about corporate earnings, a lackluster Treasury bond auction and a weak read on retail sales growth.

After the close Apple Computer reported strong quarterly results, while Advanced Micro Devices' quarter was more mixed.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 104.04 to 10,403.93, Charts) slid more than 100 points, or about 1 percent, despite positive pre-announcements from components McDonald's and Merck.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 13.97 to 1,173.79, Charts) index fell around 1.2 percent.

The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (down 31.03 to 1,974.37, Charts) tumbled nearly 1.6 percent, its biggest one-day percentage loss in two months. Weakness in chips and software in particular weighed on the composite.

"It's just a bad day overall," said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners, citing the weak retail sales, steep selloff in semiconductors and the negative impact of the falling energy prices on energy stocks.

The declines set the Dow and the Nasdaq not far above what analysts say are key technical levels that the major gauges need to hold over the next few sessions, so as not to be vulnerable to more selling.

After the close, Apple Computer reported fiscal second-quarter earnings, sales and iPod shipments that grew from a year ago and beat estimates, thanks to strong sales of its blockbuster iPod MP3 player, Mac mini and Powerbook. The tech behemoth also forecast that third-quarter earnings and sales would top current estimates.

Apple (down $1.62 to $41.04, Research) stock fell 3.8 percent during the regular session ahead of the earnings, and slipped in volatile after-hours trade.

Some analysts may have been looking for Apple to report and forecast even higher numbers, said Donald Selkin, director of research at Joseph Stevens, and that may have been part of the reason for the tepid stock reaction.

"Apple's numbers looked pretty good, they raised their forecast, but the negative spin is that the forward estimate is not even higher," he added.

He said that investors were also reluctant to move on the earnings amid the tremendous runup in Apple stock over the last year.

Over the last 12 months, the stock has risen more than 200 percent. Apple is up more than 30 percent year to date.

Also after the close, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices reported quarterly earnings that missed estimates on revenue that beat estimates. The company also reported gross margins, a key measure of profitability, that were beneath estimates.

AMD also said that its troubled memory chip business has filed for an initial public offering.

AMD (down $0.17 to $17.06, Research) shares fell 1 percent during the regular session but rose in after-hours trade.

March retail sales rose a less-than-expected 0.3 percent after a 0.5 percent increase in February, well below forecasts of 0.8 percent growth, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Sales excluding autos inched up 0.1 percent after rising an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in February. Sales were expected to have risen 0.5 percent.

The report was particularly unsettling to investors worried about inflation on the one hand, but also about a possible oil-induced slowdown in economic growth on the other.

"I think there's a sense that with oil prices as high as they are, that's carrying over to the consumer, which you're seeing in the retail sales," said Joe Sunderman, market analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

After sliding Friday, Monday and most of Tuesday, stocks managed a turnaround late Tuesday after minutes from last month's Fed policy meeting showed the central bankers see economic growth as solid, but not inflationary, and hinted they wouldn't need to pick up the pace of their interest-rate hiking campaign -- at least not yet.

But concerns about rate hikes remain -- and have kept the market rangebound for most of 2005.

The start of the quarterly earnings period also brought an increase in pre-announcements, more of which tend to be negative than positive.

Harley-Davidson warned that 2005 earnings would fall from a year ago and miss analysts' forecasts due to sluggish U.S. sales.

The motorcycle maker also cut its 2005 production outlook, all of which overshadowed its improved first-quarter earnings, and sent Harley (down $9.84 to $48.93, Research) stock tumbling 16.7 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trading.

Semiconductors were weaker after ASML (down $1.03 to $15.28, Research), a Dutch chip gear maker, posted sales and earnings that missed forecasts and said it expected a further decline in new orders.

Intel (down $0.40 to $22.82, Research) slipped 1.7 percent and the Philadelphia Semiconductor (down 11.21 to 401.93, Charts) index, or the SOX, lost 2.7 percent.

Foundry Networks (down $0.45 to $9.00, Research) warned late Tuesday that first-quarter sales would miss forecasts due to slower orders and weaker sales to North American business customers. Shares of the network equipment and services maker sank 4.7 percent.

Others in the networking sector were weaker, too, sending the Amex Networking (down 3.54 to 198.97, Charts) index down 1.75 percent.

Bucking the trend: Dow component Merck (up $0.71 to $34.52, Research), which rose 2.1 percent after saying that first-quarter earnings will come in at 62 cents a share, topping analysts' forecasts. The troubled drugmaker also reaffirmed its fiscal 2005 earnings guidance.

The drugmaker cited cost-cutting and the benefit of the weak dollar, and noted that the forecasts don't reflect reserves for potential liability due to its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

Fellow Dow component McDonald's (up $0.32 to $31.22, Research) rose 1 percent after saying first-quarter earnings would top estimates due to strong March sales.

Earnings are expected to have risen 8.3 percent in the quarter, according to First Call estimates. While that's positive, it's still down from the more than 20 percent growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2003, and that slowdown has investors concerned.

In other news, Morgan Stanley (down $1.35 to $53.13, Research)'s top two investment bankers resigned, marking the latest high-level departures for the securities company. The company has been mired in controversy as dissidents seek to oust embattled CEO Philip Purcell.

Oil sank further after weekly oil inventory data showed a bigger-than-expected rise in crude and gasoline inventories, and a narrower-than-expected fall in distillate inventories, used in heating oil.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell $1.64 to settle at $50.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

But the slide in oil prices didn't cheer stock investors.

"We've had pullbacks in the price over the last few months, and the prices have always rebounded, so there's some wariness," Sunderman added. "You need to see a more sustained decline in prices over a longer period of time."

The slide in oil prices weighed on oil stocks. Dow component Exxon Mobil fell more than 2 percent, while the Philadelphia Oil Service Sector (down $3.33 to $133.97, Research) index fell 2.4 percent.

Market breadth was negative and volume was moderate. Decliners topped advancers eleven to five on the New York Stock Exchange, where 1.62 billion shares changed hands, and on the Nasdaq, where 1.74 billion shares changed hands.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.36 percent from 4.35 percent late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Treasury prices had been flat through most of the morning, but turned lower after an auction of new 5-year notes drew disappointing demand.

In currency trading, the dollar was little changed versus the euro and fell versus the yen.

COMEX gold gained $1.70 to settle at $431 an ounce.