Wall St opens lower despite surge in job creation US stocks opened lower despite a reported surge in job creation, as eurozone gloom continued to cloud US optimism. The S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent to 1,271.09, despite ADP, the payroll processor, reporting that private sector hiring in December was the strongest in a year. The euro fell sharply on Thursday morning, suggesting macro concerns continued to linger. But the S&P 500 remains just above its 200 day moving average, a sign of bullish sentiment, while Goldman Sachs reported that one month realised correlation between S&P 500 sectors has fallen to its lowest level since August. That is an indication that macro concerns, which tend to shift all stocks in the same direction and increase realised correlation, are weighing less on US investors. Holiday sales reporting from US retailers drove stocks in different directions. Gap fell 3.6 per cent to $18.20, after December sales came in 4 per cent lower than the previous year. Ross Stores climbed 1.2 per cent to $48.20 on a 9 per cent increase in same-store sales that easily beat the consensus analyst forecast of 4.2 per cent. JC Penney fell 5.5 per cent to $32.98, after the department-store chain lowered fourth-quarter profit guidance to 70 cents a share from above $1 a share, while Constellation Brands , which sells imported wines and beers, fell 6 per cent after slightly missing earnings estimates. Bookstore Barnes & Noble slumped 23.3 per cent to $10.38, after the company said it may put its e-reading Nook business up for sale. Consumer discretionary stocks had led the S&P 500 on Wednesday as investors piled into the sector in anticipation of strong sales reports. "Its not surprising to see investors buy the rumour and sell the news," said Richard Jaffe, retail analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. Shares in Tesoro slumped 9.7 per cent, as the refiner said the collapse in the Brent-WTI spread would hurt margins and projected a fourth quarter loss. That knocked shares in other US refiners with access to WTI crude oil, which have benefited from the discount of WTI to Brent. Valero Energy was off 4.5 per cent to $19.50 and Marathon Petroleum fell 2.8 per cent to $32.81.