Wall Street suffered its second straight selloff on Thursday after retailers issued the weakest sales reports this decade and as the markets brace for another ugly employment report due on Friday. The massive back-to-back waves of selling carved more than 900 points from the Dow, its worst two-day point decline in history. 

Today's Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 443.48 points, or 4.85%, to 8695.79, the broader S&P 500 dropped 47.89 points, or 5.03%, to 904.88 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 72.94 points, or 4.34%, to 1608.70. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 fell 35.76 points, 4.93%, to 688.95.

The two-day percentage drop on the Dow is the index's steepest since October 1987 and comes after Tuesday's election-day record 300-point surge. Analysts said the losses were less of a reaction to the election of Barack Obama -- which was widely expected by Wall Street -- but more likely an indictment of the economic situation that will greet him when he takes office in January.

“Unfortunately that honeymoon period wasn’t very long," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. “Obviously it's a very historic time. We’ve got a president who’s going to hit the ground running. He’s also got historic problems in front of him."

The plunge in the stock market follows last week's massive 1,000-point surge on the Dow -- its best weekly performance in 34 years. 

“It doesn’t surprise me that the market is going to give back some of that. I think it’s a selloff that is expected after a strong rally in a downturning market," said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The economic numbers that have come out haven’t helped anything.”

All but three of the 30 Dow components closed lower by at least 1%, led by double-digit plunges from General Motors (GM), aluminum maker Alcoa (AA) and American Express (AXP). Defensive names like Proctor & Gamble (PG), Coca-Cola (KO) and Wal-Mart (WMT) avoided those sharp declines but still closed lower. 

There was little good news to reverse the selling trend Thursday. Major companies like tech bellwether Cisco Systems (CSCO), auto maker Toyota (TM) and FOX Business parent News Corp. (NWS) all warned of tough times ahead, and retailers issued the weakest results since at least 2000.

The commodities markets weren't immune to the selling either as crude oil prices plunged more than $4 to the lowest level since March 2007, dragging down energy stocks like Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP). The price of a barrel of crude ended down $4.53 to $60.77. 

Oil was pushed down on more fears about a global recession and a strong performance for the dollar, which gained about 1.5% against the euro. Also, the International Energy Agency slashed its global oil demand forecast for 2030 by 10 million barrels. 

On the economic front, the government said initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 last week to 481,000. While the numbers were slightly better than expected, claims remained more than 50% higher than before the downturn and continuing claims jumped to 3.84 million -- the highest level since February 1983. 

That report did little to quell fears that Friday's all-important monthly employment report will show even more damage to the nation's labor market. Economists have warned the U.S. likely lost some 200,000 jobs in October amid the height of the financial crisis.

The weak labor market has contributed to the worst quarterly consumer spending performance in 28 years, hurting sales at a number of key retailers that reported October sales on Thursday.  

Costco (COST) issued an unexpected October same-store sales decline while discount retailer Target (TGT) said sales fell by 4.8%, more than twice what was expected. Target also warned the “challenging sales environment” will continue into the holiday season and beyond. Other retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) and Nordstrom (JWN) issued weak reports as well. 

As a result, the Thomson Reuters same-store sales index plunged by a much worse-than-expected 0.7% -- the weakest performance since the index began tracking results in 2000. 

On the other hand, retail king Wal-Mart (WMT) beat expectations with 2.4% same-store sales growth in October and smaller retailers like Urban Outfitters (URBN) and Buckle (BKE) posted double-digit sales growth.

Tech stocks suffered steep declines Thursday after bellwether Cisco warned its revenue could dive as much as 10% in the current quarter due to dismal economic conditions. The tech sector was also hurt by comments made by Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini, who said at a conference the U.S. is already in a recession that will last for two to three quarters, according to Barron’s Tech Trader Daily blog.

Wall Street heard similar downbeat forecasts from car manufacturer Toyota Motor (TM) and media giant News Corp. (NWS), both of which posted double-digit profit declines and slashed their outlooks for the remainder of the year.

Toyota's weaker-than-expected results come just a day before domestic auto giants General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) are scheduled to detail yet more losses from last quarter. After Thursday's closing bell a number of other major companies like Dow component Walt Disney (DIS) and Qualcomm (QCOM) were set to release results. 

Corporate Movers

Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang said at a conference Wednesday the best option for Microsoft (MSFT) is to buy his embattled Internet company. “We’re willing to sell the company,” Yang said, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The comments were made after Yahoo’s ad search deal with Google (GOOG) crumbled amid regulatory pressure.

Chrysler LLC parent Cerberus Capital Management could forfeit control of GMAC LLC to allow the auto-loan company to gain access to government financial rescue funds, Bloomberg News reported. The considerations come as a new report shows a failure by either Chrysler, General Motors or Ford could cut up to 2.5 million jobs in the first year alone.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) about a third of its market value after the casino company warned in an SEC filing it is seeking to raise capital and its auditor said there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue.

Blackstone Group (BX) disclosed a weaker-than-expected third-quarter loss of 44 cents per share and warned it may need to cut or stop its dividend payments due to market conditions. 

Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ), the operator of the Nasdaq Stock Market, plunged double-digit percentages even after its posting an in-line adjusted-profit for the third quarter. Analysts blamed the losses on profit-taking. 

Anheuser Busch (BUD) met estimates with third-quarter earnings of $1.05 per share. The beverage giant, which is set to merge with Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev, posted a 6.5% rise in sales to $4.92 billion. 

AutoNation (AN) posted a third-quarter loss of $1.41 billion amid a 24% plunge in new-vehicle sales. Excluding a charge of $1.46 billion, the largest publicly traded dealership earned 25 cents per share in the period, missing estimates by 4 cents.

Global Markets

European markets plummeted even after the Bank of England slashed the U.K.'s interest rate by an unheard of 1.5% and the European Central Bank lowered rates by 0.5%. The BOE cited very strong "deterioration" in the U.K.'s economy and the ECB's Jean-Claude Trichet said concerns about rising inflation have moderated. 

The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 was plunged 168.61 points, or 6.22%, to 2542.04 while London's FTSE 100 Index tumbled 258.32 points, or 5.70%, to 4272.41. 

France's CAC 40 Index was down 230.86 points, or 6.38%, to 3387.25 and Germany's Dax Index fell 353.30 points, or 6.84%, to 4813.57. 

Asian markets plunged overnight as Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 622.10 points, or 6.53%, to 8899.14 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1050.12, or 7.08%, to 13790.04.