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Oil knocks down stocks, yet again; Yahoo for sale?; Amazon goes back to the future

Wall Street's early morning gains have evaporated. All three major indexes (^DJI^GSPC^IXIC) are now back in the red as crude prices (CLH16.NYM) wiped out earlier gains after the Energy Information Administration reported that inventories rose more than expected last week, raising concerns about the state of the U.S. economy.

Private sector employment

Investors are getting some upbeat news on the labor market ahead of Friday’s closely monitored government jobs report. Payroll processor ADP is reporting that employers in the private sector added 205,000 jobs. That was better than economists’ expectations.

Service sector slows

Meanwhile, the service sector grew at its slowest rate in nearly two years in January. The Insitute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of non-manufacturing activity fell to 53.5 last month from 55.8 in December. 

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Yahoo (YHOO) laid out a new strategy to stimulate growth. Yahoo said it's exploring “strategic alternatives" as part of a restructuring that will slash its workforce by 15% in the first quarter of 2016, and it will close offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Milan. The announcement came as Yahoo reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share that came in line with analysts' estimates. However, revenue slightly missed forecasts, with sales falling 15% from a year earlier.

Chipotle (CMG) shares got crushed in early trading after the burrito chain disclosed that a criminal investigation linked to a food safety incident has widened beyond a single restaurant in California. This comes as the company delivered its worst quarter as a publicly-traded company after an E. coli outbreak drove customers away. Even though adjusted earnings per share came in way above estimates for the fourth quarter, profit plunged 44% from a year ago. Chipotle also posted its first sales decline since going public in 2006, with sales down 6.8%, slightly missing estimates.  

General Motors (GM) posted a beat on both its top and bottom lines in the fourth quarter. The automaker also reported a record annual profit for 2015 thanks to growth in China and strong demand for SUVs and pick-up trucks in North America.  

Syngenta's (SYT) U.S.-listed shares were sharply higher in early trading following news that China's state-owned ChemChina offered a whopping $43 billion in cash to buy the Swiss supplier of pesticides and seeds. The deal would be the largest-ever foreign acquisition by a Chinese firm. This comes after Monsanto's (MON) unsuccessful attempt to purchase Syngenta last year.

Amazon bookstores?

And finally, after basically putting big bookstores on life support, Amazon (AMZN) now wants to join them! Various reports say the biggest online retailer plans to open as many as several hundred brick-and-mortar bookstores like the one it has in Seattle.