Slow Earnings Growth\, Dim Forecasts Weigh on Stocks

Slowing Earnings Growth, Gloomy Forecasts Add to Stock Market’s Woes

String of lowered estimates raises investors’ concerns that biggest U.S. companies are losing momentum

The U.S.’s biggest public companies are warning that their earnings may not be as strong as they hoped this year, intensifying pressure on a bull market that has struggled to regain its footing.

Firms in the S&P 500 were projected back in September to report fourth-quarter earnings growth of 17% from the year earlier.

But dimmer expectations...