MW: Consumer spending, job data dent retail stocks
By Andria Cheng
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail stocks fell on Wednesday after data showed Americans slowed their spending in October ahead of the industry's critical holiday selling period. Data that showed a rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims also doused sentiment. Retailers from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT -0.37% to Gap Inc. GPS -0.82% are keeping open many of their stores on Thanksgiving Day with Wal-Mart kicking off its doorbuster specials at 10 p.m. Other retailers from Target Corp. TGT -1.59% to Kohl's Corp. KSS -1.75% will open their doors at midnight on Friday as the industry readies for so-called Black Friday, which traditionally starts the holiday shopping period. The S&P Retail Index fell 0.9%. Kohl's was down 1.8%. Macy's dropped 1.7%. Target was down 1.3%. J.C. Penney JCP -1.44% declined 1.2%. Wal-Mart dipped 0.4%.
