Hundreds of salt-spreading trucks fanned out across New York City today as the region’s first major winter storm of the season threatened to drop up to 18 inches of snow, blanketing a wide swath of the Northeast US and New England.

Northeast America was today shivering in the wake of its worst blizzard for seven years.

Wall Street retreated for a fifth straight day today as investors dumped stocks on worries that disappointing retail sales and United Airlines’ threat of bankruptcy would curtail corporate profits.