New York: The Wall Street today declined with Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping into the red on a flurry of job cuts which hinted at further deepening of economic downturn.

The uncertain fate of the ailing auto majors General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler also weighed against investor sentiments.

Besides Dow, the two other key indices -- SP 500 and Nasdaq Composite -- also tumbled in the early trade.

Dow dipped marginally to 8,549.24 points, while SP 500 declined 0.52 per cent to 866.24 points and Nasdaq Composite slipped to 1,486.64 points.

A day after an employment report showed that private American companies slashed 2,50,000 jobs in November alone, the country today witnessed a raft of layoff announcements.

Telecom major ATT said it would reduce workforce by 12,000 whereas software maker Adobe would be cutting 600 full-time positions.

Elsewhere in Europe, Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse is all set slash 5,300 jobs.

Adding to the woes, the fate of the three auto makers are hanging fire with the Congress hearing on their bailout proposals progressing.

Among the major stocks, General Motors plunged more than seven per cent to 4.58 dollars and diversified conglomerate General Electric fell nearly two per cent to 17.80 dollars.

Earlier, in the day, most of the Asian bourses closed in the negative territory while European stocks climbed, following rate cuts by the central banks in the region.

The Bank of England, European Central Bank and the apex bank of Sweden all reduced their key rates, in yet another effort to tide over the raging economic crisis.

Source : PTI