By Steve Goldstein & Kate Gibson, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures dropped Thursday, as the lowered sales outlook from Cisco Systems Inc. and largely grim retail sales underlined the economic pressures that helped President-elect Barack Obama win the election. The Labor Department reported the number collecting jobless benefits hit a 25-year high, while first-time unemployment claims fell last week. The data comes ahead of Friday's jobs report for October, with the unemployment rate expected to rise to 6.3%. Read Economic Report. In a separate report, the government said U.S. companies cut back employees' hours in the third quarter, with productivity growth up more than anticipated. See detailed story. The Bank of England cut interest rates by 1.5 percentage points. The European Central Bank also cut rates, but by a more modest half point. See Bank of England story. Off earlier lows, S&P 500 futures dropped 13.6 points to 944.4 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 23.5 points to 1,282.75. Dow industrial futures lost 85 points to 9,090. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday, suffering their worst-ever percentage losses in the day after a presidential election, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 486 points, the S&P 500 lost 52 points and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 98 points. Several retailers will release same-store sales numbers. Thomson Reuters said same-store sales as a whole may drop 0.3%, which would be the weakest reading ever since the company began tracking the releases in 2000. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted better-than-forecast October sales. Other retailers weren't as ebullient. Costco Wholesale Corp. said same-store sales fell 1% in October, Limited Brands Inc. reported same-store sales dropped 9% and Big Lots Inc. cut its estimate of third-quarter earnings. On the earnings front, Cisco Systems fell in pre-open trade as the group said current quarter sales may drop 5% to 10%. During the fiscal first quarter, the technology bellwether reported a flat profit on 8% sales growth, largely meeting expectations. "Although the duration of the weakness remains unclear, Cisco has frozen hiring and intends to reduce its spending by $1 billion by its fiscal year-end, which suggests it anticipates more than a brief slowing," noted analysts at Morgan Keegan, which nonetheless sees the valuation as "interesting" given the company's cash position. News Corp. shares slumped in Sydney as the media giant reported a 30% fall in fiscal first-quarter profit and cut its annual earnings outlook. News Corp. is the parent company of MarketWatch, the publisher of this report. Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 10% after the Japanese automaker cut its earnings outlook. Wells Fargo & Co. traded lower on its plan to sell $10 billion in common stock. After the close, Walt Disney Co. , Qualcomm Inc.and Nvidia Corp will report results. Oil futures fell $1.2 to $64.10 a barrel. Gold futures gained $15.2 to $757.6 an ounce.

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