Stocks Churn on Layoffs, Weak Retail Sales

He said that after investors realized that the developing world's growth was not insulated from credit troubles among developed countries, "We've gone from running out of oil to having an oil glut. We have more oil than we know what to do with." Flynn said there will eventually be another boom cycle for oil, but it's years away.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year note was up 20/32, yielding 2.59%, and the 30-year was adding 1-21/32 to yield 3.09%. The dollar was losing ground against its major foreign competitors.

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.