New York ? Wall Street retreated Wednesday as wary investors followed a now-familiar pattern of locking in profits after a huge rally. The Dow Jones industrials had their eighth straight triple-digit move, falling more than 180 points and wiping out more than half their gain of the previous session.

An earnings warning from Dow Chemical gave investors another reason to sell. But the decline was unsurprising given investors’ worries about earnings and the fact that the market has been unable to hang on to gains.

Investors also have been concerned about the possibility of war with Iraq.

Indeed, there was much indecision on Wall Street Wednesday. The Dow was down more than 100 points in early trading, recovered to an advance of 30 points in the afternoon, and then turned sharply lower during the afternoon.

The Dow closed down 183.18, or 2.3 percent, at 7,755.61, after surging 346 points in the previous session, its biggest one-day gain in two months and eighth-largest ever.