MarketWatch: Stocks Down in the Dumps

[marmar]

Stocks drop sharply on economic, financial woes

By Kate Gibson & Nick Godt, MarketWatch


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, with rising jobless claims data and weaker oil prices further fueling concerns about slowing growth in the U.S. and abroad, while fears about ailing financial firms remained.

Oil prices continued to fall sharply amid concerns about slowing growth, while traders awaited data on weekly supplies, which seemed to have been delayed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 234.75 points to 11,416.36.

Among Dow components, shares of Wal-Mart Inc. bucked the trend, rising 0.8%, after sales topped projections, with the globe's largest retailer also offering an upbeat forecast for the current month.

"News on the retail front was mixed-to-firmer, led by a rise in Wal-Mart same-store sales for August, though others were not quite so fortunate," said Action Economic analysts.

And economic data fueled concerns about the state of the economy ahead of Friday's key August jobs report.

The Labor Department reported jobless claims rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 444,000, up 15,000 from the prior week. The data marked a shift after three weeks of declines, and surprised analysts who expected a slight drop. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-stocks-drop-sharply-economic/story.aspx?guid=%7B2CC213C4%2DC0B0%2D484F%2DABA4%2D99982C74BB9A%7D

[SpiralHawk]

1. A 'confidence' vote in McCain-Bush-Palin republiconomics

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. rough morning for stocks...

but the oil and petrol markets are down too...

sP