Stocks open lower as jitters about retail return

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 117.8 million shares.

On Wednesday, the Dow fell 245 points on worries about unemployment and a warning from technology giant Intel Corp. about poor business conditions. Warnings from aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. and media company Time Warner Inc. added to investors' worries.

In tech sector news Thursday, computer maker Dell Inc. said it would slash 1,900 jobs in Ireland, while Lenovo Group, another computer maker, warned it expects a loss for its latest quarter and will lay off 2,500, or 11 percent, of its work force worldwide.

Government bond prices rose modestly. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.46 percent from 2.50 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest short-term investments, slipped to 0.10 percent from 0.11 percent.

The dollar fell against other major currencies, and gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell 41 cents to $42.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Among retailers, Wal-Mart fell $4.85, or 8.7 percent, to $50.69, while Macy's fell 12 cents, or 0.85 percent, to $10.95.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.74 percent in afternoon trading, as the Bank of England cut its official interest rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent — the lowest level in its 315-year history. The Fed last month slashed rates to a record-low range of zero to 0.25 percent.

In other European trading, Germany's DAX index fell 1.45 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.55 percent. In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 3.93 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.81 percent.