Closing bell: Stocks retreat after recent rally; GM, MRK, SFD, FDX, DAL all down, NOK, TXN, NSM, ALTR gain

The market sold off, but the activity was not broad and had little conviction. After days of gains, there was no surprise in it.

It ran like this:

DJIA: 8,669.11 (down 2.97%)

NASDAQ: 1,547.43 (down 1.55%)

S&P 500: 887.23 (down 2.47%)

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) lost some ground on fears of a delay in the proposed $15 billion Congressional bailout plan. After this gained so much yesterday, much of this was in the news already.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) traded down after its annual pipeline review. The event included formal guidance out of the company on its drug pipeline for the next year and general commentary about how many drugs are in the pipeline for 2010 to 2012. Financial guidance did not seem to impress the market.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is offering employees buyout incentive packages for them to leave the company after the Northwest merger. This will keep the company from having strikes or any negative fallout from cutting jobs.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) traded marginally higher after a key analyst pointed out some valuations here and removed a strong negative Bias. Goldman Sachs raised its rating to Neutral from a Sell rating and noted that current prices reflect much of the worst case scenario.

Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) sold off a bit. The troubled food company had its shares raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank again with the note that the worst looks behind the company based on its values and sell-off seen in recent months.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) saw its shares move up over 6% after the company lowered guidance at its mid-quarter update. The giant chip company slashed earnings expectations down to $0.10 to $0.16 from $0.30 to $0.36 EPS previously offered. That was far worse than the worst estimate, but the market showed an odd relief.

National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM) said that net income fell to $33.9 million, or $0.14. This is down from $90.6 million or $0.33 EPS in the same period last year. Its revenues fell to $421.6 million from $499 million in the year ago period. Its total bookings fell 33% and it significantly cut revenue targets and lowered margin expectations.

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) rose after the programmable logic devices maker lowered guidance and talked about weakness across the board in all segments. The company slashed revenue expectations, but not as bad as some of the other chip makers.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) traded lower by 14% after the air freight carrier cut its guidance. The weak economy is causing it to lower its fiscal year sharply down to a new EPS range of $3.50 to $4.75 rather than its prior range of $4.75 to $5.25 EPS for its fiscal year.

BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE) continues to be under pressure as the Canadian telecom operator said it continues to disagree with a potential insolvency agreement with KPMG. It has not resolved this issue and said that if unresolved it will keep it from closing on December 11, 2008 as originally expected.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Tags: ALTR, BCE, DAL, FDX, MRK, NOK, NSM, SFD, TXN