NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes maintained their negative ways Tuesday, as investors reacted to Citigroup's financial woes and a report of weak retail sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average was off 201.52 points, or 1.58 percent, at 12,576.63 in early afternoon trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 27.34 points, 1.93 percent, to 1,388.91. The Nasdaq composite index fell 2.10 percent, or 51.95 points, to 2,426.35.

Citigroup posted a $9.8 billion loss, unveiled plans to cut its dividend by 41 percent, and announced it would get a $12.5 billion capital injection from investors including Singapore and Kuwait. Its stock dropped 7 percent by early afternoon.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department reported weak retail sales for December, recording a 0.4 percent decrease from November.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 577 stocks were up and 2,420 were down,

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 9/32, yielding 3.738 percent.

The euro exchanged at $1.4843 from $1.4871 late Monday. The dollar traded at 107.12 yen from 108.19 yen.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Index fell 0.98 percent to close at 13,972.63 points.

Britain's FTSE 100 Index slipped 0.8 percent to close at 6,163.30.

Producer prices decline in December

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Producer prices were down 0.1 percent the final month of 2007, as energy prices fell and food prices gained, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, grew 0.2 percent in December, the department said in a news release.

For 2007, producer prices were up 6.3 percent and core prices were up 2 percent.

The decrease in December followed a 3.2-percent increase in November, the department said.

Energy goods dropped 1.9 percent in December after rising 14.1 percent in November. Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy rose 0.2 percent in December, compared with a 0.4 percent increase the previous month.

In contrast, prices for food jumped 1.3 percent after recording no change in November.

Holidays not so merry for retail sales

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Holiday shoppers apparently felt pinched by economic forces as retail sales in December fell from November, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Retail sales decreased by 0.4 percent, the department's U.S. Census Bureau reported in a news release. Sales in November increased a revised 1 percent; originally the figure was estimated to be a 1.2 percent increase.

For the year, sales rose 4.2 percent, compared with a 5.9 percent increase in 2006.

Gasoline station sales were up 18.5 percent from December 2006, although down 1.7 percent from November, the department said.

Citigroup has $9.8B fourth-quarter loss

NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Citigroup, the largest bank by assets in the United States, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $9.82 billion, which had a rippling effect on the stock market.

The report include a $18.1 billion in pre-tax write-downs related to the subprime crisis and a $4.1 billion increase in credit costs because of current and estimated losses, the bank said in a release Tuesday.

Investors reacted negatively to the news, driving stock indexes down when trading began.

"Our poor performance was driven primarily by two factors -- significant write-downs and losses on our subprime direct exposures in fixed income markets, and a large increase in credit costs in our U.S. consumer loan portfolio," said Vakram Pandit, Citigroup chief executive.

The company tried several times to restructure after recent market churning forced it to re-evaluate assets and liquidity in 2007. It cut jobs in April, when it announced it would lay off of 17,000 workers, MarketWatch reported. Citi said it took charges in the quarter related to 4,200 job cuts, which it did not detail.

Citi said cut its dividend to retain capital and was getting a $12 billion infusion from private placement and a public offering of preferred shares, MarketWatch reported.