Stocks Opened Sharply Lower; Oil Tumbled Below $30

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Friday, as oil prices resumed their slide, tumbling below $30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 362.48 points, or 2.21%, to 16,016.57. The S&P 500 dropped 40.99 points, or 2.13%, to 1,880.85. The Nasdaq Composite was down 117.77 points, or 2.55%, to 4,497.23.

Brent crude futures plunged more than 4 percent to fresh 12-year lows on Friday as the market braced for increased Iranian oil exports. U.S. crude futures were down by more than 4.5 percent at $29.67 per barrel at 1219 GMT, after posting their first significant gains for 2016 in the previous session.

U.S. retail sales fell in December as unseasonably warm weather undercut purchases of winter apparel and cheaper gasoline weighed on receipts at service stations, the latest indication that economic growth braked sharply in the fourth quarter. The Commerce Department said retail sales slipped 0.1 percent after rising 0.4 percent in November. For all of 2015, retail sales rose 2.1 percent, the weakest reading since 2009.

Industrial production fell 0.4% in December, the third straight monthly decline, according to data released by the Federal Reserve on Friday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday that it was pulling the plug on its smallest store format, Walmart Express, and closing 269 locations globally, including 154 in the United States, in a restructuring that will affect 16,000 workers. Wal-Mart said the move would reduce diluted earnings per share by 20 cents to 22 cents, with nearly all of that to be booked in the fourth quarter ending this month.

Citigroup Inc. said Friday that fourth-quarter profit jumped as legal costs fell and revenue rose at the third-largest U.S. bank by assets. The bank reported a profit of $3.34 billion, or $1.02 per share. That compares with the $344 million, or 6 cents per share, it reported in the same period of 2014. Revenue edged up 3%, to $18.46 billion from $17.9 billion a year ago.

Wells Fargo & Co. said its fourth-quarter profit was flat compared with the year-ago period. The San Francisco-based bank reported a profit of $5.71 billion, or $1.03 a share. That compares with $5.71 billion, or $1.02 a share, in the same period of 2014. Revenue was $21.6 billion. Analysts had expected $21.8 billion.