U.S. Stocks Stumble On Weak Retail Sales, Citi Losses

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks on Tuesday tumbled under pressure from slumping retail sales in December and large losses from Dow industrials component Citigroup Inc.

following the weak round of data, with the retail sales report especially disappointing," said analysts at Action Economics.

The Dow Industrial Average fell 95.3 points to 12,682.9. Financials paved the way as 26 of its 30 components traded lower.

Citigroup shares fell 3.2%; J.P. Morgan Chase shares declined 2.9% and American Express Co. dropped 1.2%.

The S&P 500 declined 14.77 points to 1,401.48, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 24.40 points to 2,453.90.

Early volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 145 million, and declining stocks overtook advancing issues by more than 4 to 1. On the Nasdaq, 188 million shares were exchanged, and decliners also beat advancers 4 to 1.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude-oil futures fell $2.40 to $91.80, and gold futures gained $8.60 to $912 an ounce.

Ahead of the opening, stock futures added to declines after the Commerce Department reported retail sales fell 0.4% in December, with the first decline in six months worse than analysts projected. .

Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices declined 0.1% last month, while core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, climbed 0.2%. .

Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank, set aside $539 million in the fourth quarter to cover job cuts announced and yet to come, CEO Vikram Pandit told a conference call Tuesday morning.

"You can interpret this current quarter's $539 million charge as a down payment on the productivity efforts we are working on," Pandit said.

Earlier on, Citigroup reported its first quarterly loss since 1998, a fourth-quarter hit of $9.83 billion, while also raising more than $12 billion in new capital. .

On Monday, U.S. stocks rallied, with the Dow chalking up its largest gain yet this year, as an oversold market cheered solid results from International Business Machines Corp.

By Kate Gibson