US STOCKS-Wall St tumbles on gloomy economic data, bank earnings

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window)
* NY Fed Empire State manufacturing index slumps to record
low
* BofA, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs fall as profit slumps
* J.C. Penney sinks on report it is considering bankruptcy
* Record drop in March retail sales
* Indexes down: Dow 2.33%, S&P 2.50%, Nasdaq 2.10%

(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh
April 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes slid 2% on
Wednesday, as a record drop in retail sales and dour
first-quarter earnings reports lent weight to forecasts for the
biggest economic slump since the Great Depression.
U.S. retail sales plunged 8.7% in March, setting up consumer
spending for its worst decline in decades, while a separate
survey showed manufacturing activity in New York state plunged
in April to its lowest in the series' history. Bank of America BAC.N , Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N and
Citigroup Inc C.N fell between 2.2% and 4.6% as they joined
JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N and Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N in
setting aside billions to cover potential loan losses tied to
the coronavirus pandemic. The banking subsector .SPXBK declined 5.2%, falling for
the third straight day.
"Investors need a strong stomach to stick with stocks
through some bad earnings reports in the coming days, weeks and
months," said David Trainer, chief executive officer of
investment research firm New Constructs in Nashville, Tennessee.
"Earnings and coronavirus are tightly intertwined and the
more progress there is on coronavirus, the sooner economic
activity resumes and earnings rebound."
Analysts expect earnings for S&P 500 firms to slide 12.3% in
the first quarter, while the International Monetary Fund has
predicted the global economy would shrink 3% in 2020, its
sharpest downturn since the Great Depression. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX has climbed about 26% from its
March trough, lifted by a raft of U.S. monetary and fiscal
stimulus and on early signs that coronavirus cases were peaking
in some hotspots, but the index is still down about 18% from its
record high.
The main indexes surged on Tuesday on hopes the Trump
administration could move to ease lockdowns. However, New York
later sharply raised its official virus death toll to more than
10,000. "Overall it feels like we're pricing in closer to a
'V-shaped' recovery at the moment, but it's clearly difficult to
disentangle the impact that the extraordinary support from the
authorities is having," said Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche
Bank.
At 10:07 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 558.11 points, or 2.33%, at 23,391.65, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 71.28 points, or 2.50%, at 2,774.78. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 178.63 points, or 2.10%, at 8,337.11.
J.C. Penney Co Inc JCP.N slumped 25.7% as sources said the
retailer was exploring filing for bankruptcy protection after
the virus outbreak upended its turnaround plans. The biggest U.S. health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc
UNH.N rose 2.8% as it maintained its 2020 profit outlook at a
time when major companies have withdrawn forecasts due to the
coronavirus pandemic. Energy stocks .SPNY slipped 5.5%, the most among the S&P
sectors as oil prices tumbled after reports suggested persistent
oversupply and collapsing global demand. O/R
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 11.89-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and a 6.69-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded four new highs and nine new lows.