US STOCKS-Weak retail sales, Goldman hit Wall St; eBay up late

Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:47pm BST
 
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    * Worse-than-expected retail sales spur economic worry 
    * Financials slide after Goldman's $5 bln stock issue 
    * Dow off 1.7 pct; S&P 500 off 2 pct; Nasdaq off 1.7 pct 
    * For up-to-the-minute market news click [STXNEWS/US] 
    
 (Updates with Intel shares dropping after hours, eBay 
planning Skype IPO; adds volume in last two paragraphs) 
    By Ellis Mnyandu 
    NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday 
as a surprising drop in retail sales dented hopes the 
recession was abating and financial shares slid on fears that 
Goldman Sachs'  share offering could prompt others to 
follow suit. 
    Retail sales in March snapped two months of increases and 
sparked selling across the board, with the stocks of 
retailers, big manufacturers, technology and energy companies 
among the casualties. The S&P retail index <.RLX> fell 2.5 
percent. 
    But the financial sector, which had recently led the stock 
market's 5-week rebound from 12-year lows, took the biggest 
beating by far, with the KBW Bank index <.BKX> falling 8.1 
percent and the S&P financial index <.GSPF> dropping 7.7 
percent. 
    "There is fear that other banks wanting to pay back 
government funds may want to raise cash by issuing shares," 
said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Ohio-based 
Schaeffer's Investment Research. 
    The gloomy news on retail shows that "maybe the economy 
hasn't turned around as the last 5-week bounce suggested." 
    The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 137.63 
points, or 1.71 percent, to 7,920.18. The Standard & Poor's 
500 Index <.SPX> fell 17.23 points, or 2.01 percent, to 
841.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> declined 27.59 
points, or 1.67 percent, to 1,625.72. 
    
    INTEL DROPS LATE, BUT eBAY JUMPS 
    After the bell, shares of Intel Corp  shed 4.6 
percent to $15.28 after the chip maker and a Dow component 
gave no formal second-quarter revenue forecast even as it 
posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter results. 
[nN14394959] 
    In regular trade, Intel ended up 0.2 percent at $16.01 on 
Nasdaq. 
    In other technology news, eBay Inc  said after the 
bell it would spin off its fast-growing Skype unit, a Web 
telephone service company, through an initial public offering, 
ending speculation about an imminent sale. 
    Shares of eBay, the online auctioneer, rose more than 5 
percent to $15.14 after hours. They had ended the regular 
session down 1.7 percent at $14.38 on Nasdaq. [nN14448918] 
 
    WEAK SALES WHIP CONSUMER STOCKS 
    During the regular session, consumer-oriented stocks felt 
the sting of the morning's unexpectedly weak retail sales 
data. The stock of department store operator Macy's  
tumbled 7.3 percent to $11.99, while shares of Wal-Mart Stores 
 , the world's biggest retailer, fell nearly 1 percent 
to $51.12, and consumer goods maker Procter & Gamble  
declined 1.6 percent to $47.25. 
    Shares of fast-food company McDonald's Corp  
declined 2.3 percent to $54.82, making the stock one of the 
top drags on the Dow industrials. 
    Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. 
economic activity and is a pillar of corporate profits. 
    In recent weeks, investor sentiment had been buoyed by 
some reassuring economic reports, including some on housing, 
that suggested the economic slump was abating. 
    In a major speech, U.S. President Barack Obama said there 
were signs of recovery, but "by no means are we out of the 
woods just yet." For more details see [nN14428395] 
    The sell-off halted a three-day run-up in the S&P 500, but 
the benchmark index is still up 24 percent since hitting a 
12-year closing low on March 9. 
    
    GOLDMAN TUMBLES ON CONCERNS 
    Goldman Sachs shares slid 11.6 percent to $115.11, a day 
after the company said it would raise $5 billion by issuing 
common stock and posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly 
profit. Equity offerings are traditionally a drag due to their 
dilutive effect. 
   Additionally, analysts said there were concerns about the 
quality of Goldman's earnings. 
    Shares of JPMorgan  , due to post quarterly results 
on Thursday, fell 9 percent to $30.70 and contributed the most 
to the Dow's decline. 
    Bank of America  shares fell 8.4 percent to $10.09, 
while shares of Wells Fargo , which last week posted 
surprisingly upbeat preliminary first-quarter results, slid 
7.2 percent to $18.27. 
    On Nasdaq, shares of Apple Inc  , the iPhone 
maker, were a top drag, down 1.6 percent at $118.31, followed 
by Web search leader Google  , off 2.4 percent at 
$368.91. 
    On the energy front, Chevron  ended in regular 
trade down 2.1 percent at $66.58, and shares of ConocoPhillips 
 lost 1.2 percent to $39.57. 
    Among bright spots, shares of Johnson & Johnson  
finished up 0.4 percent at $51.37 after the diversified 
health-care company reported a better-than-expected profit. 
[nN07344610]. 
    And in contrast to other bank stocks, Citigroup  
ended up 5.5 percent at $4.01. 
    Trading was active on the New York Stock Exchange, where 
about 1.75 billion shares changed hands, above last year's 
average daily volume of 1.49 billion. On the Nasdaq, about 
2.29 billion shares traded, a tad above last year's average 
daily volume of 2.28 billion. 
    Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a ratio of 
7 to 3, while on the Nasdaq, more than two stocks fell for 
every one that rose. 
 (Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Jan Paschal) 
 ((Ellis.Mnyandu@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6085; Reuters 
Messaging:ellis.mnyandu.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
           
Keywords: MARKETS STOCKS  
    
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