Jobs Data Wallop Wall Street

On Thursday, the major averages finished with modest gains thanks to strong retail same-store sales data. The Dow advanced 57.88 points, or 0.44%, at 13,363.35, and the S&P 500 rose 6.26 points, or 0.43%, at 1478.55. The Nasdaq climbed 8.37 points, or 0.32%, to 2614.32.

For the week, the Dow slid 1.8%, the S&P 500 lost 1.4%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.2%.

On the New York Stock Exchange 3.26 billion shares changed hands, as decliners topped advancers by a 3-to-1 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.90 billion shares, with losers outpacing winners nearly 4 to 1.

Markets overseas fell hard, as well. The Paris CAC 40, London's FTSE 100 and Germany's Xetra Dax were down 1.9% or more. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 eased 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.3%.

Elsewhere, the October front-month crude contract was up 42 cents at $76.72 a barrel.

Among equities, Harley-Davidson (HOG Quote) cut its shipment targets due to weak sales. The motorcycle producer also reduced its earnings expectations for 2007 and 2008 while withdrawing guidance for 2009 altogether. Shares were down $5, or 9.2%, to $49.09.

Following the last close, homebuilder Hovnanian (HOV Quote) posted a fiscal third-quarter loss of $80.5 million, or $1.27 a share. The loss was worse than expected, according to Thomson First Call. Hovnanian lost 81 cents, or 7.1%, to $10.56.

Fellow builder Beazer Homes (BZH Quote) dropped 12.9% after word the company had received default notices for certain of its senior notes. The stock was off $1.41 to $9.50.