The Dow Falls 167 Points, Nasdaq Drops 36

The Dow lost 166.89 points today to close at 10846.29, the Nasdaq fell 36.13 points to close at 2,054.11 and the S&P 500 dropped 16.31 points to close at 1,242.29. The Market fell at the open after Merrill Lynch downgraded Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), citing higher gas prices hurting consumer spending. Stocks continued into a free-fall as investors were bombarded with negative fears including - escalating conflicts in the Middle East, rising oil prices, a slowing economy and interest rate fears. Also, the beginning of earnings season has proven to be lackluster, with warnings from SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) and 3M Corp (NYSE: MMM). Oil closed at an all-time high, up $1.75 higher to $76.70. Gold moved higher to about $660 an ounce.

Volume was modest today with 1.78 billion shares trading on the NYSE and 2.09 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners clobbered advancers by a margin of 25:08 on the NYSE and 24:06 on the Nasdaq.

In individual stories, Sento Corp. (Nasdaq: SNTO) lost 53.7% today after the company said it expects to report consolidated revenues in the range of $14.4 to $14.6 million, an operating loss of $1.5 to $1.6 million and a net loss in the range of $1.4 to $1.5 million or $0.36 to $0.38 per diluted share for the fiscal 2007 first quarter. The Company had originally expected revenues to approach $16 million and that it would maintain operating profitability in the fiscal 2007 first quarter. Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) lost 17.6% today after a European Court overturned the European Commission's approval for the merger between Warner Music and EMI. The Company stated: We are in the process of reviewing today's decision by the European Court of First Instance regarding Sony BMG to determine what impact it might have on a potential combination of Warner Music Group and EMI Group plc.

Tomorrow, traders will be looking for economic data on Import Price Index, Retail Sales and Retail Sales (ex-autos) all at 8:30AM EST and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment at 9:50AM EST. Investors will be looking for earnings from EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC), General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PPHM).

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