Wall Street stock futures took a turn for the worse Thursday as retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores scaled back earnings expectations.

Wal-Mart cut its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings target to 91¢ cents to 94¢ cents a share from US$1.03 to US$1.07. December same-store sales at the retailing giant, excluding fuel, rose 1.7%.

Other U.S. retailers on posted dismal comparable sales for December.

Also Thursday, Teck Cominco Ltd. said it is cutting roughly 1,400 jobs, or 13% of its global workforce, as it moves to cut its costs and improve its competitiveness in the face of weak commodity prices.

In U.S. economic news, government data showed continuing claims for unemployment benefits climbed to the highest level since November 1982, even as initial claims fell by 24,000 last week.

The U.S. Department of Labour will release data on December nonfarm payrolls on Friday, and economists expect a contraction in employment on the order of 500,000 jobs or more.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US83.14¢, down 0.4 of a cent from Wednesday’s close.

Statistics Canada will release Canada’s jobless numbers for December on Friday.

In commodities news, oil futures continued to drop. The front-month futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 89¢ at $41.74 a barrel.

In earnings news, tech bellwether Intel Corp. on Wednesday cut its fourth-quarter forecast for the second time since November.

Overseas, technology, energy and financial shares led Asian markets lower on Thursday, with the Nikkei 225 slumping 3.9%.

In Europe, the U.K. FTSE 100 lost 1.1% as the Bank of England cut its official interest rate by half a percentage point to 1.5% — the lowest level in its 315-year history.

The German DAX 30 fell 1.4% in late morning trade, with big losses seen for the metals sector.

On Wednesday, a six-day streak of gains came to a halt on the Toronto Stock Exchange as the market absorbed expectations for an increasingly difficult economic environment ahead, and disappointing corporate news.

The S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 350.77 points, or 3.7%, to close at 9,121.32.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index dipped 24.79 points, or 2.7%, to close at 888.32.

In New York, equities experienced similar declines as economic concerns prevailed.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 245.4 points, or 2.7%, to 8,769.

The S&P 500 index dropped 28.05 points, or 3%, to 906.65, and the Nasdaq composite dipped 53.32 points, or 3.2%, to 1,608.62.

IE