- NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks
skidded on Friday, knocking the market to its sixth straight week of losses,
on a hail of dismal outlooks from companies like data storage giant EMC
Corp. EMC.N and a record $28 billion judgement against cigarette leader
Philip Morris Cos. Inc. MO.N
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- "People are scared to buy stocks," said Anthony
Iuliano, head equity trader for Glenmede Trust Co., as the Dow Jones industrial
average .DJI hit its lowest close in nearly five years.
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- EMC tanked 23 percent after saying it no longer sees
returning to profits for the second half of the year in a "brutal"
environment for information-technology spending.
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- Boeing Co. BA.N , the world's largest commercial jet
maker and a Dow average member, fell almost 7 percent after warning of
weak earnings amid a slump in the air travel industry.
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- A mixed reading on the job market in September, continuing
fears of a war on Iraq and a whopping judgement in a tobacco lawsuit added
to market jitters.
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- Philip Morris, also a Dow 30 stock, sank 7 percent and
sparked a fresh round of selling in the afternoon after a jury ordered
the world's largest cigarette maker to pay $28 billion in damages to a
woman with lung cancer.
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- "It's tough to find stock that you really want to
buy in this type of environment," said Dan McMahon, head of listed
trading at CIBC World Markets Inc.
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- The blue-chip Dow tumbled 188.79 points, or 2.45 percent,
to 7,528.79, according to the latest figures, slamming to its lowest close
since November 1997. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX fell
18.37 points, or 2.24 percent, to 800.58.
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- The technology-packed Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC lost
25.66 points, or 2.20 percent, to 1,139.90, sinking to its lowest level
since September 1996.
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- Losers trounced winners by a ratio of 3 to 1 on the New
York Stock Exchange and roughly 12 to 5 on the Nasdaq. More than 1.81 billion
shares changed hands on the Big Board and more than 1.58 billion on Nasdaq.
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- All three gauges posted their sixth straight losing week.
For the Nasdaq and S&P 500, it was the longest string of losing weeks
since the first half of 2001. For the week, the Nasdaq fell almost 5 percent,
the Dow lost more than 2 percent and the S&P 500 surrendered more than
3 percent.
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- "The mood is pretty bad, and I think the feeling
is that we have even more work to do," said David Memmott, head of
listed block trading at Morgan Stanley.
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- The market had opened higher after the government said
the U.S. jobless rate fell to 5.6 percent in September from 5.7 percent
in August. But there were troublesome spots in the report, traders said.
Payrolls fell in September for the first time in five months, showing an
uneven pace to the U.S. economic recovery.
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- Early gains quickly evaporated and the market headed
lower as Wall Street grappled with a host of worries. Stocks added to losses
after officials said President Bush on Monday will give his first prime-time
televised speech about the threat posed by Iraq and will stress that time
is running out for Baghdad to disarm.
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- Philip Morris skidded $2.91 to $36.59 and ranked as the
biggest percentage loser on the Dow. A Los Angeles jury ordered Philip
Morris to pay a record $28 billion in punitive damages to a woman with
lung cancer who blamed the company for failing to warn her of the risks
of smoking. Philip Morris said it would appeal the judgement, the largest
award ever in an individual tobacco liability lawsuit.
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- Boeing lost $2.30 to $32.01, adding more pressure to
the Dow. The world's largest commercial jet maker said the shrinking value
of jets it finances in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks will cut quarterly
net earnings by $158 million.
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- Alcoa Inc. AA.N , another Dow stock, fell 99 cents, or
almost 5 percent, to $19.11. The world's top aluminum producer reported
a 43 percent drop in quarterly profit, stung by lower prices resulting
from a worldwide glut of aluminum and slow economic growth.
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- EMC tumbled $1.18 to $3.83 and ranked as the most active
on the New York Stock Exchange. The data storage company reported a preliminary
quarterly loss and revenues that were worse than expected.
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- The EMC warning pressured the storage sector. Emulex
Corp. ELX.N dropped $1.68, or more than 16 percent, to $8.35. Brocade Communications
Systems Inc. BRCD.O gave up 70 cents, or about 10 percent, to $5.82. Network
Appliance Inc. NTAP.O lost 38 cents, or 5 percent, to $6.27.
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- Schering-Plough Corp. SGP.N fell 34 cents to $17.30,
adding to days of steep declines. The drug company warned that its earnings
in 2003 and 2004 will be far below forecasts as the firm braces for loss
of patent protection on top allergy drug Claritin. Schering-Plough was
second-most active on the NYSE.
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- The Labor Department said before the open that payrolls
outside the farm sector fell by 43,000, in contrast to the 5,000 gain private
economists had predicted.
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- Even more surprising to analysts, however, was a decline
in the unemployment rate to 5.6 percent in September from 5.7 percent in
August. Experts had forecast a rise in the rate to 5.9 percent.
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- "This is the proverbial mixed bag," said Richard
Yamarone, economist at Argus Research in New York of the employment data.
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- Traders said the lockout of longshoremen at West Coast
ports helped pressure the market. Negotiators pressed ahead with a second
day of talks aimed at ending the six-day-old lockout, which has already
sent economic problems cascading through the U.S. economy and overseas.
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