American Stocks Fall as Target Sales Slip

Most American stocks fell for the first time in four days as slower sales at Target Corp. and a bigger-than-expected drop in home prices overshadowed a rally in energy companies.Circuit City Stores Inc., Big Lots Inc., and Dillard’s Inc. led declines in 28 of 31 members of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Retailing Index. CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the world’s largest commercial real estate broker, posted its steepest retreat in two weeks. Citigroup Inc., the biggest American bank, fell the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he rebuffed financial firms that approached him about buying stakes.About six stocks fell for every five that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 added 0.1% to 1,497.65 and the Dow average climbed 2.36 to 13,551.69, lifted by Exxon Mobil Corp. after crude oil surpassed $96 a barrel for the first time this month. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.4% to 2,724.41, helped by Amazon.com Inc.’s gain.“The consumer is feeling some pain,” the chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., which manages $23 billion in Lake Oswego, Ore., Frederic Dickson, said. “Investors are going to be looking for a spillover effect.”The S&P 500 is headed for its first quarterly decline since the three months ended June 2006. The benchmark for American equities has risen 5.6% this year, while the Dow average and Nasdaq have added 8.7% and 13%, respectively.Target’s forecast that December sales at stores open at least a year may drop 1% added to evidence that chain stores will post the weakest holiday sales growth in five years. Retailers in the S&P 500 have tumbled 17% as a group this year after home values decline and energy prices climb. The S&P/Case-Shiller index yesterday showed home values slid 6.1% in October.MBIA Inc., the world’s largest bond insurer, and Bear Stearns Cos., the fifth-biggest American securities firm, also limited the market’s losses after investors disclosed increased stakes.Target, the second-largest American discount retailer, fell $1.31 to $51.16. Target had previously predicted that December sales at stores open at least a year would rise as much as 5%. The lowered forecast ranges from a possible increase of 1% to a drop of 1% in sales.Circuit City lost the most in the S&P 500, slipping 6.7% to $4.62. Big Lots retreated $1.01 to $15.65. Dillard’s, the retailer that operates mostly in the South, slid $1.11 to $19.19. Macy’s, the owner of the namesake department store chain and Bloomingdale’s, lost $1.06 to a three-year low of $25.95.Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, slumped 36 cents to $48.38. The National Retail Federation has forecast a 4% increase in total sales for the holidays, the smallest gain since 2002.“We’re definitely heading into a consumer-led recession,” chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a New York-based consulting and investment banking firm for retailers, Howard Davidowitz, said. “Retail stocks have been killed this year and rightfully so, but the worst is yet to come.”Financial firms in the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, bringing their loss this year to 19%. CB Richard Ellis slipped 89 cents to $21.75. Citigroup declined 1.7%to $30.45.“We’ve seen some deals as you can imagine in this period,” Mr. Buffett said yesterday in an interview on CNBC. “So far, we have not seen a deal that causes me to start salivating.” Mr. Buffett didn’t say which firms contacted him.

American Stocks Fall as Target Sales Slip

American Stocks Fall as Target Sales Slip

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