Posted by
darbymachado on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 5:25:04 PM
Department-store operator Macy’s Inc. said Thursday it will close 11 underperforming stores in nine states - affecting 960 employees - and lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter after one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.
GMAC won Federal Reserve approval to become a bank holding company Wednesday, enabling the auto lender to tap the Treasury’s $700 billion financial bailout fund and help keep General Motors Corp. in business.
Export-reliant Asian economies showed more signs of weakness on Friday, with Japan’s industrial output diving at a record pace and South Korea warning it faces an “unprecedented crisis” as global demand wilts.
Unemployment benefit rolls swelled to a 26-year high in the last week of December, data showed on Thursday, while retailers, including market leader Wal-Mart, reported poor sales as the year-long economic slump deepened.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 219 points, or 2.5%.The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 (SPX) index shed 19 points, or 2.1%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) fell 27 points, or 1.7%. All three indexes seesawed in early going.
Johnson & Johnson reported higher quarterly earnings on Tuesday as cost cuts offset weak sales of its drugs, devices and consumer products amid the economic downturn, but J&J forecast 2009 earnings below expectations.