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U.S. markets fall far and hard Thursday

NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes fell hard Thursday following negative employment reports and mixed retail news.

ADP reported 33,000 private sector jobs evaporated in August, while the Labor Department said 15,000 additional first time unemployment claims were filed last week.

Same-store sales on the month were mixed. Wal-Mart Stores gained 3 percent, but J.C. Penny and Kohl's reported declines, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Oil prices also declined, but falling crude oil prices have recently failed to pump life into an inflation-wary market.

By close the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 344.65 points, down 2.99 percent, to 11,188.23. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 38.15, or 2.99 percent, to 1,236.83. The Nasdaq composite index lost 74.69 points, or 3.2 percent, to 2,259.04.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 533 stocks advanced and 2,584 declined on a volume of 1.3 billion shares traded.

The euro fell to $1.4324 from Wednesday's $1.4505, while the dollar traded at 107.14 yen, down from Wednesday's 108.21 yen.

The 10-year Treasury note was up 20/32, yielding 3.63 percent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed down 131.93 points, or 1.04 percent, at 12,557.66.

The FTSE 100 index in London dropped 137.60 points, down 2.5 percent to 5,362.10.

Midwest may dodge Chapter 11 filing

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Financially troubled Midwest Airlines in Wisconsin has signed a deal to lease a dozen jets that could help it avoid a bankruptcy filing, the company said.

Midwest has agreed to lease the Embraer 170 jets from Republic Airways Holdings, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Thursday.

But, the jets will be initially flown and maintained by Republic employees, meaning about 270 Midwest employees will lose their jobs, the Journal-Sentinel reported.

The 10-year lease also includes an agreement for Republic to loan Midwest $15 million. A second agreement includes a second loan -- for $10 million -- if the carrier meets certain financial goals, the newspaper reported.

The airline has also raised cash from TPG Capital, which owns 53 percent of the airline, and expects its workforce to be reduced by 45 percent by the end of the year.

"For the foreseeable future, we are out of the shadows of Chapter 11," Midwest spokesman Michael Brophy said.

American Airlines sends out 469 pink slips

FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- American Airlines said Thursday it had sent notice to 469 U.S. workers their jobs would end around Nov. 1 as part of a cost-trimming strategy.

"It's quite clear that we can no longer operate our airline at its current levels," the carrier's vice president of employee relations Mark Burdette wrote in a letter sent to Transport Workers Union International Vice President Dennis Burchette, the Dallas Morning News reported.

"We must quickly reduce our operating schedule for the coming months, and as a result, will need fewer people to operate the airline," the letter said.

American has already reduced some schedules, ending service to Oakland, Calif., and Barranquilla, Columbia, and reducing flights from their hub at San Juan, Puerto Rico, the report said.

Earlier in the summer, American said it intended to reduce flight capacity by 8 percent overall and by as much as 12 percent for domestic service.

Toys 'R' Us ups the ante on crib safety

WAYNE, N.J., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. retailer Toys "R" Us has upped the ante on crib safety, setting higher standards for the strength of cribs it is willing to sell, the company said.

Federal and voluntary industry standards set the rules for cribs, but Toys "R" Us, which sells hundreds of thousands of cribs a year, has decided to impose a wood density standard to ensure the strength of wood slats. It has also set standards for how the slats are attached to the cribs' frames, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

The retailer is large enough to have clout among crib makers and move other stores to follow suit with demands for higher standards, the Tribune reported.

"We saw that there were products that passed the existing standards but had problems in the real world," Toys "R" Us Chief Executive Officer Gerald Storch said.

The new standards are part of a reaction to several crib recalls, including a recall of 320,000 cribs made by Jardine Enterprises and sold at Toys "R" Us stores.

In 42 reports of broken slats in Jardine cribs, four children were reportedly trapped between the wider gap that resulted. Two of the children were cut and bruised. The others escaped injury.