(Credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Stocks fell sharply Friday morning ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, and none were in worse shape than Abercrombie & Fitch.
The clothing chain, already under fire for remarks by its CEO about targeting only attractive customers, dropped 10.6% after reporting a wider first-quarter loss than anticipated and guiding same-store sales to be negative for the balance of 2013.
Another retailer was in even worse shape, as
Sears Holdings
dove 16.3% after reporting yet another quarterly loss Thursday. The department store chain said it will try to raise another $500 million in order to keep its scuffling turnaround effort afloat.
The major averages were lower as the holiday weekend loomed, with the Dow Jones industrial average off 53 points, 0.4%, at 15,241, the S&P 500 9 points, 0.6%, to 1,641 and the Nasdaq 19 points, 0.6%, to 3,440. Even with the slip, the market is still sitting on comfortable gains year-to-date, with the S&P 500 up 15%.
Bucking the trend was
Procter & Gamble
, which rallied 3.8% on the return of former chief A.G. Lafley to lead the company. The consumer products giant said Chief Executive Bob McDonald desired to retire and tapped his predecessor to reignite its profit engine. McDonald had come under pressure from activist investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital who, while stopping short of calling for his ouster, criticized the pace of P&G's turnaround and suggested that serving on numerous other boards could be distracting the executive. (See "Congrats, Bill Ackman.")
News Corp
. took another step closer to a breakup, with its board approving a proposal to separate the company's entertainment assets from its businesses in book and newspaper publishing. The split -- into 21st Century Fox and the new News Corp. -- is expected to be completed by June 28 and will be followed by a $500 million buyback of the publishing company's stock. Shares of News Corp. added 0.6% Friday. (See "Why Spinoff Stocks Are Sizzling.")