Last '08 Session Starts Flat

(NEWSER) - Stocks slid at the open today, following yet more negative numbers from retailers and the Labor Department, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow dropped 52 points, while the S&P fell 1%. The Nasdaq dropped 1.2%, weighed down by sub-par earnings from Cisco. New jobless claims ripped past the 600,000 mark last week, marking their highest level since 1982, while every retailer save Wal-Mart reported weak same-store sales. More»

(NEWSER) - Stocks headed south this morning, following worse-than-expected housing and job data. Jobless claims rose by 62,000 last week, and housing starts slid 15.5%, to their slowest pace on record. The Dow sunk 144 points, accompanied by an 18-point decline in the S&P. A strong quarter from Apple initially lifted Nasdaq futures, but news that Microsoft is slashing 5,000 jobs sent the tech-heavy index down 45 points. More»

Dow makes miniscule move

(NEWSER) - Stocks barely moved at the open in the wake of a gruesome but unsurprising jobs report. The Dow fluctuated between gains and losses, recently trading down 27 points, with the Nasdaq and S&P registering 0.6% and 0.5% declines. The country lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, the Labor Department announced, with nearly 2 million of those coming in the last four months alone. The jobless rate is now 7.2%. More»

But FedEx is cutting payroll...

(NEWSER) - There was good news and bad news on the job front today. Good news: Initial claims for unemployment dropped more than expected last week. Bad news: They’re still near a 26-year high, and FedEx announced that it’s cutting salaries by 5%. But the good outweighed the bad for investors this morning, who sent the Dow creeping up 23 points at the open, while the Nasdaq and S&P rose 0.3% and 0.1%. More»

All major indexes are in negative territory for the year

(NEWSER) - The only good thing to say about today's stock market is that it's finally over. The Dow fell a staggering 513 points, or 4.3%, to close at 11,384. It's the worst point drop since December 2008 and the worst percentage drop since February 2009, reports MarketWatch . The S&P 500 plunged 60, or nearly 5%, and NASDAQ dropped 137, about 5%. All three major indexes are now in the red for the year. More»