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Stocks Struggle for Direction on Jobs, Retail Data

Mike Taylor

After a downside open, stocks on Wall Street were experiencing spiky trading Thursday, as a slew of big-name companies announced layoffs and European central banks cut interest rates to mitigate a deepening recession abroad.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was falling 46 points to 8545, and the S&P 500 was down 5.5 points to 865. The Nasdaq slipped 8.4 points to 1484.

Layoffs and salary reductions were dominating the day's early headlines. Executives at Citigroup (C Quote), along with director and senior adviser Robert Rubin, were willing to go without bonuses this year, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse (CS Quote) announced plans to cut 5,300 jobs and said it expects to report a $2.5 billion fourth-quarter loss.

In other financial-sector news, The Wall Street Journal reported that credit card company Capital One (COF Quote) intends to buy Chevy Chase Bank for $520 million in a cash-and-stock deal.

The bout of layoffs and tempered guidance was not confined to the financials. Telecom company AT&T (T Quote) announced workforce reductions of 12,000, or about 4% of its employees, while DuPont (DD Quote) set plans to cut 2,500 workers.

"I'm not surprised," said Fred Dickson, chief market analyst at DA Davidson. "Given the depth of the recession, we're just going to see more of the same over the next three to six months." He also said that AT&T's planned layoffs, at 4%, weren't shockingly large, however. "In a given year, that may be close to a normal turnover amount anyway."

Dickson also said that the layoff announcements are directing investor attention to employment ahead of tomorrow's November nonfarm payrolls data. He said that the market appears to be taking the layoffs in stride, as it avoided a large gap down at the open.

Software firm Adobe Systems (ADBE Quote) reported preliminary fourth-quarter results that were ahead of expectations, but also announced plans for an 8% reduction in headcount.

Media concern Viacom (VIA Quote) also announced job cuts and said it would put a raise freeze on some senior-level positions.

In the pharmaceutical space, Merck (MRK Quote) reaffirmed its 2008 earnings projections but projected 2009 results would fall short of analysts' current estimates.

Homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL Quote) said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed year over year and said its revenue in the coming year would fall substantially from current levels.

In one bright spot, retail giant Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) announced its same-store sales rose 3.4% in November.

Across the board, however, the November same-store sales picture was less encouraging. Costco (COST Quote), Limited (LTD Quote) and Pacific Sunwear (PSUN Quote) were among companies to announce slackening sales.

The automakers were again in focus on Thursday. Earlier in the week, General Motors (GM Quote), Ford (F Quote) and Chryslerheaded to Capitol Hill to seek government help as they navigate a precarious market climate. Bloomberg reported that management at GM and Chrysler were contemplating a prearranged bankruptcy as a means to get government funds.

Turning to economic data, the Labor Department said jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 29 fell 21,000 to 509,000. The result was better than economists' forecast of 540,000 claims for the week. Separately, the Census Bureau's October read on factory orders showed a 5.1% decline, a larger drop than the 4% consensus estimate.

As the financial crisis was felt overseas, the Bank of England cut its key interest rate by one percentage point to 2%, and the European Central Bank reduced its rate to 2.5% from 3.25%. France also announced a $33 billion economic stimulus plan.

Looking at commodities, crude oil was down 27 cents to $46.52 a barrel. Gold was gaining $2.50 to $773 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year note was up 11/32, yielding 2.62%, and the 30-year was adding 26/32 to yield 3.13%. The dollar was climbing vs. the pound but softening against the yen and euro.

Abroad, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were trading lower. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng finished on the downside.