Blue Chips Shed 225 Points

The Dow tumbled 225.47 points, or 1.5%, to 15112.19. It was the second consecutive triple-digit decline, following a 113-point pullback Wednesday. After being up as much as 19.5% for 2013 on Aug. 2, the Dow now is up 15.3% this year.

The big news hurting stocks was a seemingly positive report: New weekly unemployment claims were the lowest since 2007, the latest in a series of indications the job market is improving.