RETAIL, APPAREL HIT IN DJIA SLUMP
NEW YORK — The stock market rout that started Tuesday over worries about the budget impasse accelerated Wednesday, knocking the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 97.19 points to 5,032.94 in very heavy trading.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange neared a half-billion shares. Added to Tuesday’s drop, the total loss came to 164.74 points, or a two-day drop of 3.17 percent. Retail and apparel issues took their lumps Wednesday along with the rest of the market.
Dayton Hudson lost 2 to 74 1/8, Kohl’s gave up 1 3/8 to 52 and Woolworth dropped 3/4 to 11 1/8, a new l2-month low.
Most other retail issues gave up fractions. Ann Taylor lost 1/4 to 10 7/8; Burlington Coat Factory, 3/8 to 9 7/8; Caldor, 1/4 to 3 5/8; Dillard’s, 5/8 to 29 1/8; Federated, 3/8 to 27 5/8; The Gap, 1/4 to 45 3/8; Intimate Brands, 5/8 to 14; Kmart 1/8 to 7 5/8; The Limited, 1/4 to 16 1/8; May, 3/4 to 44 5/8; Mercantile Stores, 7/8 to 46 1/8; Nordstrom, 3/8 to 41 1/8, and Wal-Mart, 3/8 to 22 5/8.
Apparel issues were also swept down with the tide as two of the hottest issues, Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger, lost more than a point each. Gucci dropped 1 3/4 to 32 3/4 and Hilfiger gave up 1 3/8 to 37 1/4.
Fractional losers included Jones Apparel, 1/2 to 38; Liz Claiborne, 3/8 to 27 5/8; Russell Mills, 3/8 to 25 35/4; St. John Knits, 3/4 to 50 3/4, and Warnaco, 3/8 to 21 1/2.
— Fairchild News Service