Stocks fell on Thursday, surrendering some of Wednesday's large gains, as retailers stumbled after several disappointing quarterly earnings reports, including Sears Holdings Corp.

Sears shares were one of the worst percentage decliners on Nasdaq after the department store reported sharply lower earnings. Other big retailers falling included Target and J.C. Penney.

Financial shares fell despite news that E*Trade Financial Corp would get a major cash infusion. The discount brokerage announced it would receive a $2.55 billion infusion from Citadel Investment Group. A similar announcement by Citigroup earlier in the week had helped lift the ailing sector.

The cash infusions into E*Trade and Citigroup take some of the fears off the table that there's an imminent collapse. This puts some of the bankruptcy fears on hold, said Edward Bretschger, director in equity sales and trading at Calyon Securities in New York. But credit concerns won't go away tomorrow.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 69.42 points, or 0.52 percent, at 13,220.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 10.66 points, or 0.73 percent, at 1,458.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 13.40 points, or 0.50 percent, at 2,649.51.

Sears stock was down 15 percent at $98.98. Target stock was down 1.6 percent to $58.60 and J.P. Penney was down 1 percent at $43.13.

Shares of Men's Wearhouse Inc dropped 15.6 percent to $34.65 after the retailer late on Wednesday forecast profit for the fourth-quarter and the full-year below Wall Street's estimates.

Investors were disappointed by results from Aeropostale Inc even after the teen apparel retailer beat Wall Street estimates.

Aeropostale shares were down 6.8 percent to $26.09

E*Trade shares were up 6.4 percent to $5.60 while the S&P Financial index was down 1.4 percent.

Adding to the decline in financial shares, UBS cut the price target on shares of American International Group Inc to $61 from $75.

AIG stock was down 2.2 percent to $56.44 on the NYSE.

Stocks showed little reaction to a Commerce Department report that new, single-family home sales rose 1.7 percent in October.

Before the opening bell, a report showed weekly jobless claims jumped to the highest level since February. In a separate government report, data showed the economy grew at its fastest rate in four years.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

U.S. Citigroup