U.S. stocks tumble on oil, earnings woes
By Denise Duclaux
NEW YORK - Blue chips tumbled in early
morning trading Thursday, weighed down by an earnings
warning from Home Depot Inc. and a leap in oil prices.
Technology stocks quickly followed suit.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 305.96
points, or 2.94 percent, to 10,107.83, with Home Depot weighing
heavily on the blue-chip index. The New York Stock Exchange
said index arbitrage trading curbs were triggered at 1011 EDT.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index slumped
30.93 points, or 2.27 percent, to 1,333.66.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 53.16 points, or
1.68 percent, to 3,115.33, putting the tech-laden index below
its May 23 closing low for the year of 3,164.55.
Home Depot Inc. warned that its quarterly earnings
will miss forecasts due to lower building material prices. Its
stock skidded more than 27 percent, or $13-7/16, to $35-1/2 --
a 14-month low.
The world's largest home improvement retailer joined big
companies ranging from Intel Corp. to McDonald's Corp.
that have warned their results will miss estimates.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices jumped $2 a barrel in New York
trading on news of an attack on a U.S. navy destroyer in Yemen
and fresh Israel-Palestinian violence. The Philadelphia stock
exchange oil service indexrose 4.13 percent.
Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, also
weighed on the Dow with a $3 drop to $42-5/16. Dow components
JP Morgan & Co. lost $7-5/16 at $139-1/2 and Citigroup surrendered $4-7/16 to $45 amid overall weakness in
financial stocks.
Advanced Micro, Intel Corp.'s main rival in the
microprocessor market, reported after the market closed
Wednesday, results that topped analysts' expectations on strong
sales of its Athlon, Duron and memory chips. Its stock edged
13/16 higher to $22-9/16.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker and a Dow component,
was off 1/4 at $35-1/8, after trading in positive territory
earlier. The stock was the most active on the Nasdaq.
Fiber optics maker Corning Inc. said late
Wednesday it expects to report quarterly earnings that will
exceed estimates. It also raised its full-year forecast. Its
stock rose $1-3/4 to $84-3/4.
Communications chip maker Applied Micro Circuits Corp. posted better-than-anticipated earnings and set a
2-for-1 stock split. Its stock rose $1-49/64 to $169-1/2.
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