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NEW YORK — Stocks slid Wednesday, erasing most of the market’s 2009 gain, as a private report showed employers cut more jobs than estimated in December and companies from Alcoa Inc. to Intel Corp. spurred concern the profit outlook is worsening.

Alcoa tumbled 10 percent after the largest aluminum producer said it will cut production and trim its work force by 13,500 jobs as it combats plunging prices. Intel, the biggest chipmaker, sank 6.1 percent as sales trailed its forecast. Banks and energy producers led declines in all 10 industry groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index after ADP Employer Services said payrolls shrank by 693,000 jobs, the most since records began in 2001.

"This is an eye-poppingly bad number," Art Hogan, the New York-based chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co., said of the ADP report. "The economy is in very difficult shape and that’s been proved out over the economic data from the past month."

The S&P 500 fell 3 percent to 906.65. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 245.4 points, or 2.7 percent, to 8,769.7. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 53.32 points, or 3.2 percent, to 1,599.06.

Alcoa slid $1.23 to $10.89.

Intel slumped 93 cents to $14.44.

Morgan Stanley dropped 7.6 percent to $18.10. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. retreated 4.8 percent to $84.50.

Energy stocks in the S&P 500 slid 3.9 percent as crude fell 12 percent to $42.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a government report showed bigger-than-expected increases in oil, gasoline and distillate fuel.

Weatherford International Ltd., the fourth-largest U.S. oilfield-services provider, sank 9.5 percent to $12.95. Hess Corp., Valero Energy Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. lost more than 3.5 percent.

Time Warner Inc 500 fast cash payday loans. dropped 6.3 percent to $10.29. The owner of HBO and AOL said it will report its first annual loss in six years after writing down the value of its cable system, publishing and Internet assets by about $25 billion in the fourth quarter.

Aetna Inc. slid 3.9 percent to $29.18. The third-largest U.S. medical benefits provider was added to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s conviction sell list.

Constellation Brands Inc. slumped 8.2 percent to $15.48. The world’s largest winemaker lowered the top end of its full-year profit forecast as the shrinking economy slowed sales.

Monsanto Co. jumped 18 percent to $86.16, the steepest gain since Oct. 13. The world’s largest seed producer said fiscal first-quarter net income more than doubled.

General Motors Corp. climbed 4.8 percent to $4.13, posting the steeper of only two gains in the Dow. The automaker that may get as much as $13.4 billion from the Treasury said it has enough government loans to cover its worst-case forecast for U.S. auto sales and won’t need more if the economy holds up.

Family Dollar Stores Inc. rose the most since 2000, jumping 14 percent to $27.81. The retailer known for selling items priced at $1 or less boosted its full-year profit forecast after first-quarter net income climbed 14 percent.

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Filed under: economics by TheDoor