Stock Market News for December 04, 2009

After spending much of the session struggling to find direction, U.S. stocks ended lower Monday as investors grew anxious ahead of this morning’s non-farm payrolls report.  The sell-off that intensified in the final 20 minutes of the session saw the Dow Jones industrial average giving up 87 points. 

The Dow closed off 0.8%, to 10,366.15.  The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.32 points, or 0.8%, to 1,099.92, while the Nasdaq declined 11.89 points, or 0.5%, to 2,173.14.  The CBOE Vix jumped 6.3% to 22.46, as worries about a worse-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report intensified.  On the NYSE, decliners outpaced advancing issues by a two-to-one margin, as 1.13 billion shares exchanged hands.

This morning’s stock futures suggest Wall Street would open with gains of at least 1%.  Stock futures surged after the government said in a report this morning that jobless rate declined to 10% in November and the economy lost fewer jobs than had been expected.  The report said the unemployment rate fell to 10% from 10.2% in October.  Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain at a 26-year high.
 
Yesterday's retail sales data was an indicator of the times to come.  According to Retail Metrics, its monthly index of comparable sales figures only advanced 0.7% above last year's crisis-struck numbers.  Among the companies that reported their same-store-sales, Nordstrom’s (NYSE:JWN - Analyst Report) comps rose 2.2% and Limited Brands’ (NYSE:LTD - Analyst Report) rose 3%.  However, Costco (NASDAQ:COST - Analyst Report) reported flat sales, Abercrombie & Fitch's (NYSE:ANF - Analyst Report) sales plunged 17%, Macy's (NYSE:M - Analyst Report) were off 6.1%, JC Penney's (NYSE:JCP - Analyst Report) declined 5.9%, Kohl's (NYSE:KSS - Analyst Report) fell 3%, and Target's (NYSE:TGT - Analyst Report) declined1.5%.

Eight of the ten S&P500 sectors ended in the red Thursday, with basic materials and financials, both off 1.9%, and oil and gas, down 1.5%, leading the decliners.  Only telecommunications and utilities showed strength, up 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.  Bank of America's (NYSE:BAC - Analyst Report) announcement that it was planning to pay back the government boosted financials initially but fears of weak consumer spending hit both financials and consumer areas.  American Express (NYSE:AXP - Analyst Report), down 5.3%, led the decliners on the DJIA.

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Read the full analyst report on KSS

Read the full analyst report on TGT