January 15, 2009

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Wednesday, as investors digested a weak Beige Book report on economic conditions from the Federal Reserve, which followed news of a 2.7% plunge in U.S. December retail sales, marking a record sixth straight month of declines. Major indexes were each lower by 3% or more.

The news prompted selling in major retail names Wednesday, including JC Penney (JCP), AnnTaylor (ANN), and Gap Inc. (GPS).Meanwhile, U.S. import prices fell 4.2% and export prices declined 2.3% in December; and U.S. business inventories fell 0.7% in November after a 0.6% decline in October, while sales were down 5.1%.