Unemployment, Earnings Drive Down Markets At Opening

Wall Street opened down across the boards this morning, driven south by a record high in unemployment claims, poor earnings reports today and the lingering effects of yesterday's after-market earnings reports.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is down about 100 points, or more than 1 percent.

The S&P 500 is down about 1.6 percent after its first four-day winning streak since November.

The Nasdaq is down nearly 2 percent.

Bad fourth-quarter earnings reports from Ford, 3M, Continental Airlines and Qualcomm pushed down the markets this morning. Colgate-Palmolive, on the other hand, reported a 20-percent fourth-quarter rise in profits.

Coffee giant Starbucks offered gloomy fourth-quarter and going-forward after market close yesterday, saying it would close 300 stores and let go up to 6,700 workers.

-- Frank Ahrens
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