Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.17 percent lower to 13,497.47.
The Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.99 percent to 2,587.07 and the S&P 500 was 1.47 percent lower to 1,475.54.
The financial services sector was lower as troubles in the subprime sector caused upset in Europe as well as in the United States.
Citigroup (NYSE: C) had dropped $1.84 to $47.65, while JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) fell $1.75 to $44.76.
Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) was down $6.32 to $114.80, while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) had dropped $9.30 to $184.00.
Meanwhile, some retailers reported that sales were slow in July as back-to-school shoppers put off their purchases.
While Wal-Mart (NSYE: WMT) said that same-store sales were up by 1.9 percent, better than the 1.5 percent that had been expected, it warned that apparel and home furnishings sales were weak and that heavy discounting had hurt profits.
Wal-Mart was down $1.25 to $47.17 in early afternoon trade.
The Gap (NYSE: GPS) added 1 cent to $15.74, but it said that same-store sales were down 7 percent, worse than that 4.9 percent decline that had been anticipated.
Elsewhere in the retail sector, home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was $1.92 lower to $35.88, while discount retailer Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO) had dropped $3.38 to $27.