Stocks beaten up

With a few minutes of trading to go, the Dow is down more than 400 points - coming on top of a nearly 500-point drop on Wednesday. Not exactly a great way to usher in a new administration. From AP:

Comments from Cisco that it saw a steep drop in orders in October and reports from retailers that consumers are skipping trips to the mall provided fresh evidence of the economy's struggles. While sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. benefited from bargain-seekers, some specialty retailers posted huge drops in monthly sales. Adding to investors' list of worries, the Labor Department said the number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped to a 25-year high, increasing by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October. It marked the highest level since late February 1983, when the economy was being buffeted by a protracted recession.

October’s employment report comes out tomorrow morning. Yippee!