U.S. stocks fall, with retail, technology leading rout

By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes fell sharply on Friday, weighed down by consumer retail and technology stocks after disappointing forecasts from Cisco and department store chains suggested weakening demand heading into the key holiday shopping season.

The three indexes are on track to close the week down more than 3 percent, snapping a run of ending higher for six weeks in a row.

Dow component Cisco fell 6.4 percent to $26.05 after it gave a weak forecast, citing a slowdown in orders and weak spending outside the United States.

The stock was the second-biggest drag on the S&P and the Nasdaq and pulled down the stock of tech heavyweights such as Oracle and Microsoft.

 

Retailers were hit by disappointing reports from department store chains. Nordstrom lowered its full-year forecast on Tuesday, spooking investors who were already jittery after Macy's cut its forecast on Wednesday.

Added to that, data showed U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in October, suggesting a slowdown in consumer spending.

"It seems like, from a technicals perspective, it's time for a little bit of a breather, and ... we're seeing some data points that support that," said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners in Washington DC.

The weak retail data on Friday likely disappointed investors who were expecting retail consumption to offset the weakness in industrials and energy stocks, Bailey said.

Consumer stocks have been a bright spot this year as weak commodity prices, fears of a global slowdown and the anticipation of a U.S. rate hike have hit most stocks, especially those of materials, energy and industrial companies.

While the consumer staples sector <.SPLRCS> moved into the red for the year earlier this week, consumer discretionary <.SPLRCD> stocks are still the best performing of the 10 major S&P sectors.

At 12:39 p.m. ET (1739 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 103.39 points, or 0.59 percent, at 17,344.68.

The S&P 500 <.SPX> was down 11.16 points, or 0.55 percent, at 2,034.81 and the Nasdaq Composite index <.IXIC> was down 38.21 points, or 0.76 percent, at 4,966.87.

Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, with the consumer discretionary sector's <.SPLRCD> 1.5. percent fall leading the decliners.

Nordstrom sank 15.4 percent to $53.70. J.C. Penney fell 13.5 percent to $7.60.

Fossil slumped 33.2 percent to $34.09 after the watchmaker said current-quarter sales could fall as much as 16 percent.

Technology stocks <.SPLRCT> were down 1.3 percent. Oracle fell 2.6 percent, Microsoft 0.6 percent and Apple slid 1.6 percent.

Mylan jumped 13.4 percent to $48.98 after its $26 billion hostile bid for Perrigo collapsed. Perrigo fell 7.3 percent to $145.16. Mylan was the biggest positive influence on the S&P and Nasdaq.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,591 to 1,370. On the Nasdaq, 1,436 issues fell and 1,246 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed no new 52-week highs and 32 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 152 new lows.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)