U.S. Stocks Tumble at the Start

Stocks on Wall Street open lower Friday, following a sharp rally late Thursday and as credit troubles continued to rock the hurting financial sector.

Author:: Mike Taylor
Publish date:: Nov 14, 2008 9:43 AM EST

Updated from 9:09 a.m. EST

Stocks in New York sagged at the open Friday as traders sought to lock in some of their gains following a sharp rally late Thursday and as credit troubles continued to rock the hurting financial sector.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was losing 128 points to 8707, and the

S&P 500

was giving back 16 points to 896. The

Nasdaq

shed 32 points to 1565.

On Thursday, stocks staged an afternoon comeback off steep morning losses stemming from a high unemployment number and bearish corporate earnings. The Dow ended up more than 500 points.

As the new day's trading began, new signs emerged of the credit troubles that are continuing to rock the ailing financial sector.

The Wall Street Journal

reported that

Citigroup

is gearing up to cut 10,000 jobs and raise interest rates on many credit-card customers.

Elsewhere among financials,

Dexia SA

is getting set to sell its bond-insurance segment FSA Holding to

Assured Guaranty

(AGO) - Get Report

. Meanwhile, the

BBC

reported that the

Royal Bank of Scotland

(RBS) - Get Report

is eliminating 3,000 jobs over the next several weeks.

At a time when financial and consumer firms were facing difficulties offering credit to customers, the

Journal

reported that software behemoth

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

would offer 0% financing for clients who spend $20,000 to $1 million on its customer-management and accounting software.

Meanwhile,

Federal Reserve

Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at the European Central Banking Conference. Bernanke said that turmoil in the financial system has warranted international help and that markets remain severely strained. His speech comes as world leaders prepare for a summit in Washington over the next couple of days. The Group of Twenty finance ministers and central bank officials plan to meet to discuss the worldwide financial meltdown.

In the earnings department,

Freddie Mac

(FRE)

, the mortgage company that has been among those central to the credit crisis, announced a $25.3 billion third-quarter loss.

Retailers were also showing signs of weakness. Department-store operator

Kohl's

(KSS) - Get Report

reported declining profit and cut its full-year guidance.

Nordstrom

(JWN) - Get Report

also cut its earnings outlook.

J.C. Penney

(JCP) - Get Report

said its profit dropped 53% year over year, and the department-store operator guided below analysts' estimates.

As for analyst actions, UBS lowered its rating on European pharmaceutical firm

GlaxoSmithKline

(GSK) - Get Report

to neutral from buy, citing valuation.

Shifting to the day's economic data, the Census Bureau reported that October retail sales declined 2.8%, following a 1.3% decline in September. Economists were expecting a 2.1% decrease.

September business inventories and a preliminary November consumer-sentiment survey from the University of Michigan are also on the docket.

Over in the commodities space, crude oil was down $1.58 to $56.66 a barrel. Gold was adding $37.60 to $742.60 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year was up 1-2/32 to yield 3.72%, and the 30-year was surging 2-7/32, yielding 4.23%. The dollar was rising vs. the euro but weakening against the pound and yen.

Abroad, European exchanges, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, were working their way higher. The European Union disclosed Friday that the 15 countries that use the euro are in

recession

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed with gains.