Dismal Data Depress Wall Street

Deutsche Bank (DB Quote) warned of a fourth-quarter loss of roughly $6.33 billion, while Morgan Stanley analysts said HSBC(HBC Quote) may have to raise as much as $30 billion and slice its dividend in half. Shares of DB lost 9.1% to $28.98, and HSBC gave up 8% to $42.19.

Plagued by the economic downturn, companies continue scale back operations in reaction to declines in revenue.

Software company Oracle (ORCL Quote) has cut "several hundred" of its more than 86,000-employee workforce, according to two sources close to the situation, Reuters reported. Shares were off by 4.6%, at $16.36, Wednesday.

Also Nortel Networks (NT Quote), which has dwindled to 32 cents a share, is expected to file for bankruptcy protection as early as Wednesday, according to a report in Toronto's Globe and Mail.

Seagate Technology (STX Quote) announced another round of staff cuts Wednesday, bringing the hard-drive maker's total layoffs announced this week to 2,950, or 6% of its workforce.

Luxury jeweler Tiffany (TIF Quote), down a fraction of a percent at $21.95, warned Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit suffered dim holiday same-store sales and reined in its full-year earnings forecast again.

Retailers were subject to declines nearly twice as severe as expected according to data released from the Census Bureau on Wednesday. It reported that retail sales for December declined 2.7%, vs. an anticipated decline of 1.2%. Factoring out autos, retail sales declined 3.1%, vs. a 2.5% decline in the prior month and the expectation for a 1.4% decline.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported that the import price index declined by 4.2%, vs. a 7% decline a month prior, led by decreases in both petroleum and non-petroleum prices. The import and export prices can be used to indicate inflation pressures created by changes in foreign exchange rates.