The American stock market resumed its January tumble after Citigroup Inc. reported a record loss, retail sales unexpectedly dropped and falling oil prices dragged down energy shares.

Citigroup, the largest American bank, declined to a five-year low in New York Stock Exchange trading after cutting its dividend by 41% and writing off $18 billion for mortgage defaults. Chevron Corp., the second-biggest American oil company, dropped the most in seven weeks. Apple Inc. slumped to the lowest in two months on the Nasdaq Stock Market after new products failed to impress investors.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 35.3, or 2.5%, to 1,380.95, marking its worst start since the first 10 trading days of 1978. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 277.04, or 2.2%, to 12,501.11, the fifth decline of more than 220 points this year. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 60.71, or 2.5%, to 2,417.59. More than seven stocks fell for every one that rose on the NYSE.

“Citigroup kept saying forever that they weren’t going to have to cut the dividend,” a manager of $252 billion at MainStay Investments, a division of New York Life Investment Management, Bill Knapp, said. “With the writedown today, what’s to come? We probably need to see the first quarter stuff pass before people are really going to believe what they hear.”