Bulls Brake for Jobs Data, Profit Warnings

Updated from 1:46 p.m. EST

Stocks in New York fell harder and faster into the session's close Wednesday afternoon, as earnings warnings, job cuts and another ethics scandal rattled investor confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 282 points at 8733, and the S&P 500 fell 31 points to 904. The Nasdaq was off by 62 points at 1591.

Tech stocks, which had led the gainers on Tuesday's advance, were at the forefront, alongside financials, of Wednesday's retraction. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote), Microsoft (MSFT Quote) and Intel (INTC Quote) toyed with 5% losses.

But leading the decliners on the Dow with an 11% haircut, Alcoa (AA Quote) said late Tuesday that it plans to slash more than 15,000 full-time and contractor positions and further cut output to better handle the economic downturn. Those layoffs will go atop a heap of headcount reductions symptomatic of the ailing economy.

A report issued by ADP Employment Service on Wednesday forecast that private-sector employment fell by 693,000 in December, suggesting the nonfarm payroll numbers to be released Friday will have declined much more severely than expected.

ADP has significantly underestimated the monthly job losses in recent months, in comparison to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but ADP said it has made methodological improvements.

Inheriting the economic storm, President-elect Barack Obama delivered his first press conference of the new year, nominating Nancy Killefer to a new position, chief performance officer. Killefer, a director of a management consulting firm and former assistant secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, will be responsible for setting performance standards, maintaining accountability and streamlining processes to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

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