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) comps rose 2.2% and Limited Brands’ (NYSE:LTD) rose 3%. However, Costco (NASDAQ:COST) reported flat sales, Abercrombie & Fitch’s (NYSE:ANF) sales plunged 17%, Macy’s (NYSE:M) were off 6.1%, JC Penney’s (NYSE:JCP) declined 5.9%, Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) fell 3%, and Target’s (NYSE:TGT) 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) 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), down 5.3%, led the decliners on the DJIA.
