RTRS: US STOCKS-Wall St falls on corporate outlook, retail worries
NEW YORK, Dec 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slid on Monday on more evidence the year-long recession will keep eating into corporate profits, while retailers tumbled on worry the holiday shopping season could be the worst in nearly 40 years.
The news was gloomy right from the start. Top U.S. staffing company Manpower (MAN.N) scrapped its profit outlook and No. 1 drug store chain Walgreen Co (WAG.N) posted a weaker-than-expected profit and slowed its expansion plans.
The auto sector was again a main source of investor anxiety, cutting short the relief over last week's bailout deal for U.S. car makers.
Japan's Toyota Motor Co (7203.T)(TM.N) said it would post an operating loss for the first time in 71 years, knocking its U.S. shares more than 5 percent lower, while investors worried whether Washington's rescue package for General Motors would leave its shareholders out in the cold. GM plunged more than 20 percent.
"From Toyota to developers to pharmacies, obviously we're in quite a recession and it's pretty obvious there's more pain to come," said Warren Simpson, managing director at Stephens Capital Management in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Concerns over the outlook for retailers mounted just days before Christmas as investors worried that cash-strapped consumers had kept a lid on shopping despite deep discounts over the last weekend before the holiday.
The weak outlook for consumer spending and the economy dragged crude oil prices lower, again, taking oil producer shares down.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 59.42 points, or 0.69 percent, to 8,519.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 16.25 points, or 1.83 percent, at 871.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gave up 31.97 points, or 2.04 percent, at 1,532.35.
Indexes finished well off their session lows. Trading was thin for most of the session and was expected to be light throughout the holiday-shortened week.
With just six trading days remaining in the year, there is little hope the markets will avoid having their worst yearly performance since the 1930s. The S&P 500 is down about 40 percent for the year.
