Post election stock slide keeps going

The post-election slide in U.S. stocks showed no sign of abating Wednesday morning after the Commerce Department said retail sales fell in October. Total sales dropped 0.3 percent with automobile sales off 0.5 percent September to October, the government said. The producer price index for the month fell 0.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Although low inflation is welcome, a drop in prices is a sign the recovery is not supporting prices producers need to expand. The European Union's statistical office Eurostat said Wednesday that industrial production fell 2.5 percent in the eurozone August to September. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 55.51 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,705.67. The Nasdaq was off 5.32 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,878.57. The Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 5.10 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,369.43. The benchmark 10-year treasury was off 2/32, yielding 1.605 percent. The euro rose to $1.2729 from Tuesday's $1.2704. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 80.17 from 79.39 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was flat, climbing 0.04 percent, 3.68 points, to 8,664.73.