U.S. stocks slid the most in two weeks as a private report showed employers cut more jobs than estimated in December and companies from Alcoa Inc. to Intel Corp. spurred concern the profit outlook is worsening. Alcoa tumbled as much as 11 percent after the largest aluminum producer said it will cut capital expenditure and production this year and trim its workforce by 13,500. Intel Corp., the biggest chipmaker, sank 6 percent as fourth-quarter sales trailed its forecast. All 10 S&P 500 industries slumped following ADP Employer Services’ report that payrolls shrank by 693,000 jobs last month, the most since records began in 2001. “This is an eye-poppingly bad number,” Art Hogan, the New York-based chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co., said of the ADP report. “The economy is in very difficult shape and that’s been proved out over the economic data from the past month.” The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 2.3 percent to 913.04 at 10:31 a.m. in New York. The index is up 1.1 percent in 2009 after sliding 38 percent in 2008, its worst yearly loss since 1937. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 195.3 points, or 2.2 percent, to 8,819.8. The Russell 2000 Index dropped 2.7 percent. Benchmark indexes erased yesterday’s gains as the ADP report showed companies accelerated layoffs as the recession entered a second year. The Labor Department may report in two days that employers slashed jobs in December for a 12th consecutive month, putting total job cuts at 2.4 million for 2008, according to a Bloomberg survey median. Alcoa, Intel Alcoa sank 96 cents to $11.16 and earlier slid as low as $10.81. The aluminum producer will trim production by 135,000 metric tons and pare costs as the global recession lowers demand for the lightweight metal used in cars, planes, home appliances and power grids. The price of aluminum fell 36 percent last year as inventories more than doubled to a 14-year high. Intel slumped 92 cents to $14.45. Fourth-quarter sales dropped 23 percent, missing a forecast that it cut by $1 billion less than two months ago. Intel’s sales decline surpasses the 20 percent drop it reported in the fourth quarter of 2001, after the technology bubble burst. Morgan Stanley dropped 2.4 percent to $19.12. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. retreated 2.1 percent to $86.85. U.S. banks will need to raise additional capital in 2009 after downgrades of mortgage-backed securities surged in the fourth quarter, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney said in a note to clients yesterday. Rating cuts accelerated last year, with about $2.3 trillion of securities in the fourth quarter alone, Whitney said. U.S. bank earnings this year will be hurt by as much as $40 billion of further writedowns and credit-rating cuts, she said. Aetna, Constellation Aetna Inc. fell 5.2 percent to $28.79. The third-largest U.S. medical benefits provider was added to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s “conviction sell” list. Analysts said the company’s earnings may he hurt by a “cyclical downturn” in the health insurance industry. Constellation Brands Inc. slumped 6.9 percent to $15.70. The world’s largest winemaker lowered the top end of its full- year profit forecast as the shrinking economy slowed sales. Time Warner Inc. dropped 6.2 percent to $10.30. The world’s biggest media company now anticipates a loss for 2008 following a non-cash impairment charge of about $25 billion before taxes in the fourth quarter. The company previously said it would post a profit from continuing operations. Earnings at companies in the S&P 500 may decline 11 percent in the first quarter and 6.2 percent in the following three months, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Monsanto Co. jumped 16 percent to $84.67, the steepest intraday gain since Oct. 28. The world’s largest seed producer said fiscal first-quarter net income more than doubled after it boosted sales of Roundup weed-killer and corn seeds. The company also increased its full-year forecast. Satyam Computer Services Ltd. American depositary receipts plunged 90 percent to 96 cents in trading before exchanges opened. The stock’s open has been delayed. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of India’s fourth-largest software services provider, resigned after saying he falsified earnings and assets.

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