Stocks wobble after retail sales reports (AP)

NEW YORK - Stocks waffled Thursday as investors, worried about technology spending after a dreary outlook from Cisco Systems, struggled to rebound from recent losses as retailers posted declining sales and the National Association of Realtors reported another drop in pending home sales.

Late Wednesday, Internet networking supplier Cisco Systems Inc. reported quarterly results that met analysts' expectations, but issued a 10 percent sales growth forecast for its current quarter that fell well below the 15 percent Wall Street projected. Cisco shares fell 2.7 percent.

Then on Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 0.5 percent rise in January same-store sales, or sales at stores open for at least a year, while other chain stores such as Target Corp., Gap Inc., Limited Brands Inc. and AnnTaylor Stores Corp. said their sales fell.

Not all news about retailing was bad -- J.C. Penney Co. raised its earnings forecast for the last three months of 2007 and its stock jumped 9 percent -- but investors are growing more uneasy about weakening consumer spending.

They remain concerned about the housing and jobs market, too. The Labor Department reported that jobless claims fell last week by 22,000, but the decline was smaller than many economists predicted. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said pending sales of existing homes fell 1.5 percent in December.

The stock market has tumbled this week as evidence mounted that the economy is headed for recession, or at least a severe, protracted slowdown. The Dow Jones industrial average has lost 543 points, or 4.26 percent, so far this week.

"That always tends to attract some believers, bargain-hunters, bottom fishers," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors.

But the attempt to rebound was proving difficult for Wall Street. "I don't see anything in the markets that says there's any newfound optimism," Johnson said. "We're kind of trying to create a silk purse out of a sow's ear here. The earnings are lousy, the economic numbers are lousy."

The Dow fell 24.47, or 0.20 percent, to 12,175.63 after fluctuating between gains and losses.

Broader stock indicators also wavered. The Standard still, many market participants are anxious about how much longer the Federal Reserve can continue to lower interest rates given relatively high food and energy costs.

Overseas, many Asian markets were closed for a holiday, but Japan's stock market was open and its Nikkei average rose 0.82 percent. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fel 2.08 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.93 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.87 percent.

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