Super Tuesday Not So Super on Wall Street
U.S. stock futures are down sharply on this Super Tuesday, with the Dow poised to open lower by more than 100 points.
Believe it or not, the Dow has not yet had a triple-digit loss this year. The blue-chip average rallied back from its lows of the session Monday, to close down a mere 14 points.
But Monday was also the worst day of 2012 for the Nasdaq, which lost 25 points, while the S&P 500 gave up 5 points.
Investors are primarily worried about three things:
(1) A slowdown in China, which warned yesterday that GDP for 2012 will come in at 7.5%, the slowest pace since 2004.
(2) Rising gas prices. An HSBC economist says the recent run-up in what drivers pay at the pump is displacing Greece as the main source of investor anxiety.
(3) Greece. Banking trade group the Institute of International Finance says that a disorderly Greek default could cause $1.36 trillion in damage to the eurozone.
Meanwhile, major changes are reportedly coming to Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO). The technology blog "All Things D" says the search giant will lay off thousands of workers this year.
Yahoo employs more than 14,000 people worldwide and is undergoing massive changes to battle its slumping share price. It ousted CEO Carol Bartz last year; and just last month three longtime board members stepped down. Yahoo shares are down more than 50% over the past five years; by contrast, rival Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares are up 40% over the same time period.
Finally, it's a sweet day for the Oreo cookie. The popular chocolate biscuit sandwiching vanilla cream turns 100 years old today. Its owner, Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT), says the cookie brings in $2 billion a year in sales from around the world. Oreos are sold in 100 different countries and are most popular here in the U.S., followed by China and Venezuela.