Stocks fall on disappointing outlooks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were lower on Monday as disappointing corporate earnings news weighed on investor sentiment.

One of the country's largest drug store chains, Walgreen Co , posted earnings that were below analysts' forecasts and the largest U.S. staffing company, Manpower Inc , withdrew its fourth-quarter profit forecast.

"If you get any sort of inkling of good news, that would set the stage for a nice rally," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

"You need a spark and we haven't seen that today."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 46.92 points, or 0.55 percent, at 8,532.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 11.48 points, or 1.29 percent, at 876.40.

In addition to its disappointing earnings, Walgreen said it was opening fewer stores than it previously planned as consumers trimmed spending.

Walgreen's shares slumped 3.8 percent to $25.06 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Manpower, the world's No. 2 staffing company, withdrew its profit outlook, citing light demand for temp workers due to the spreading global recession.

Its shares tumbled nearly 13 percent to $31.72

Shares in auto stocks fell after Toyota Motor Co <7203.T>, the world's biggest automaker, forecast its first group operating loss and said it was impossible to predict how severely the current "unprecedented emergency" would cut the global demand for cars next year.

U.S. traded shares of Toyota were down 4.6 percent to $61.39 while General Motors slumped nearly 14 percent to $3.88, making it one of the top drags on the Dow.

Also weighing on investor sentiment were profit outlooks from diversified manufacturer Roper Industries and food maker Sysco Corp .

Roper Industries lowered its fourth-quarter outlook to 73 to 76 cents a share, citing lower demand in two units and unfavorable moves in foreign exchange while Sysco Corp said that it sees flat to slightly negative year-over-year sales comparison for the food maker's second quarter.

Roper shares slid 4.2 percent to $39.87 and Sysco shed 2.7 percent to $23.42.

Tech shares weighed on the Nasdaq, with Apple and Google among the top drags. Apple dropped 3.6 percent to $86.77 and Google stumbled 3.1 percent to $300.65.

Shares of Research in Motion and Oracle were lower, erasing some of Friday's gains on the heels of their quarterly profit reports.

Research in Motion slid 2.4 percent to $41.82 while Oracle fell 2.5 percent to $17.33.

With just seven trading days remaining in the year, there is little hope for the markets to avoid having their worst yearly performance since the 1930s. The S&P 500 is down 39.5 percent for the year.

(Editing by Tom Hals)

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