US stocks slipped on Monday as disheartening corporate earnings news further battered investor sentiment and retailers fell on worries about Christmas sales. One of the country's largest drug store chains, Walgreen Co, posted smaller-than-expected earnings and the largest US staffing company, Manpower Inc, withdrew its fourth-quarter profit forecast.
The S&P US Retailers Index shed more than 4 percent as investors worried that sales for the last weekend before the Christmas holiday had been meagre. "You went into the season with everything against the retailers and back-to-back storms probably put another nail in the coffin of retailers," said Jim Awad, chairman of W.P. Stewart & Co in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average shed 35.53 points, or 0.41 percent, at 8,543.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 13.14 points, or 1.48 percent, at 874.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 33.00 points, or 2.11 percent, at 1,531.32. With just seven trading days remaining in the year, there is little hope for the markets to avoid having their worst yearly performance since the 1930s. The S&P 500 is down 39.5 percent for the year.