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Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG
The S&P 500 fell 1.5% on Monday on another down day in higher NYSE volume. The Dow industrial average took out its July 24 intraday low and lost 1.4%.
Retailers tumbled on news that consumer spending in August rose 0.3%, below economists' 0.5% forecast. Dow component Wal-Mart Stores slumped 2 to 49.24, sliding back below its 50-day moving average on above-average volume. The stock has gone sideways since notching an all-time high of 70.25 in December 1999. The world's largest retailer lowered its September same-store sales growth target to 3% to 4% vs. a previous projection of 4% to 6%. But it stuck to its fiscal 2003 earnings-per-share estimate of $1.76 to $1.78.
Target undercut its recent July low, sinking 2.39 to 29.52 on triple usual volume. The Wal-Mart rival has a worst-possible E for Accumulation/Distribution Rating, implying heavy selling by institutions. Its 47 Relative Price Strength Rating is weaker than Wal-Mart's 57.
Consumer-oriented firms also fared poorly. Nautilus Group, previously known as Direct Focus, dived 2.80 to 19.50 on four times normal trade. The stock has dropped 36% in the past nine ...