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Wal-Mart Projections Send Stocks Tumbling

Elizabeth Trotta

Stocks in New York opened Thursday sharply lower in the wake of disappointing retail figures and ahead of more commentary from the president elect.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 70 points at 8699, and the S&P 500 fell 6.6 points to 900. The Nasdaq was off by 8.3 points at 1590.

Stocks took a 3% blow Wednesday after earnings warnings and another scandal left investors shaking their heads.

President-elect Barack Obama was set to speak about his economic stimulus plan later Thursday morning. Meanwhile, retail numbers began to roll in much lower than expected.

Among them, Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) said its December same-store sales were worse than Wall Street expected, rising by a meager 1.7%, and the retailer reined in its fourth quarter guidance.

Target (TGT Quote)said Dec ember sales increased 0.2%, but same-store sales fell 4.1%; Costco (COST Quote)said its same-store sales also decreased 4%.

Macy's (M Quote) said it will close underperforming stores. Gap (GPS Quote) said December sales fell 12%, and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF Quote) said sales slumped 18% and same-store sales took a 24% hit.

Elsewhere, the number of U.S. workers remaining on jobless rolls hit a new 26-year high. But the number filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 467,000 last week, much better than the expectation for 545,000.

The Labor Department said the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 27 were in Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Taking a look at commodities, oil was down 97 cents at $41.66 a barrel, while gold added $14.50 to $856.20 an ounce.

Longer dated Treasuries were rising early Thursday; the 10-year note was climbing 9/32 to yield 2.5%, and the 30-year was up 5/32, yielding 3%. The dollar was weaker against the euro, pound and yen.

Overseas, the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt were giving up ground Thursday. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended with losses.