Last Updated: February 12th, 2009: 11:45 AM ET---The major US equity indices are off their session lows but are still trading with substantial losses on broadbased weakness, as investors shrugged off a rebound in retail sales as a one-time fluke and continued to sell following two other disappointing economic reports.

In earnings news, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.64 cents per share, ex-items, topping analyst estimates of $0.61 per share. Marriott International (NYSE:MAR) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.34 per share, ex-items, missing analyst estimates for earnings of $0.39 per share. Marriott says it sees first quarter of 2009 earnings from continuing operations to be in the range of $0.13 to $0.15, vs. estimates of $0.21 for the period. The company also said it sees earnings per share for fiscal 2009 to be in the range of $0.86 and $1.04 per share, vs. consensus estimates of $1.12 per share. Aetna (NYSE:AET) reported fourth quarter earnings from operations of $0.96 per share, beating analyst estimates for earnings of $0.94 per share. The company said for 2009, it expects a profit of $3.85 to $3.95 per share, vs. consensus estimates of $3.87 per share. Waste Management (NYSE:WMI) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.49 per share, ex-items, ahead of analyst estimates of $0.48 per share. Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.72 per share, ex-items, beating analyst estimates for earnings of $0.56 per share. Strayer Education (NASDAQ:STRA) reported fourth quarter earnings from of $1.71 per share, beating analyst estimates for earnings of $1.70 per share.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported its weekly reading on jobless claims Thursday morning showing an 8,000 decline to 623,000, from a revised 631,000 reading the previous week. Economists, on average, were anticipating a reading of 610,000. The reading puts the total number of Americans receiving benefits at 4.81 million. At the same time Thursday morning the Commerce Department released its January reading on retail sales showing a surprising rise of 1%, from a 3% decline in December and versus expectations of a 0.8% decline. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.9% vs. a revised 3.2% decline in December. However, the better-than-expected was met with skepticism by most as many attributed the rebound to 50% and 60% clearance sales, dismissing it as either a one-time occurrence that wouldn't continue or a reading that would be revised lower. Later in the morning, the Commerce Department released a separate report on December business inventories showing a larger-than-expected decline of 1.3% versus estimates of a 0.8% decline and down from a revised 1.1% decline the previous month. The decline, which marks the largest drop since 2001, reflects companies reaction to rapidly deteriorating consumer spending and slumping sales which underlies the deepening recession.

At the time of this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 131 points to 7,808, the S&P 500 is trading 13 points lower to 8121 and the Nasdaq is trading 11 points lower to 1,519.

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