Update: At the time of writing, we had not seen the news that Goldman Sachs had downgraded J.C. Penney stock to Underperform. Given that the bank was reported earlier this week to be talking to the company about raising more cash, the downgrade seems a bit cynical. Or perhaps no savior is in sight.

Struggling department store chain J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) marches on down the path to oblivion. The stock was down about 13.5% in the first hour of Wednesday trading and has already put up (down?) a new 52-week low.

Yesterday the store said it planned to hire 35,000 temporary employees for this year’s holiday season. The company did not say how many seasonal workers it hired last year. Having returned to its previous sales strategy of big discounts and sheafs of coupons takes more people. A J.C. Penney spokesperson told Reuters:

Not only will we need the help to assist customers but also to help with tasks such as changing price signage, etc.

Last year in the holiday quarter, J.C. Penney sales dropped nearly 32% year-over-year. The company simply must do better this holiday season or the store may not survive until Christmas 2014. We noted on Monday that the company may be hitting up banks for more cash while interest rates are still low.

Those seasonal employees may not be changing only price signage. They could be drafted to put up those going-out-of-business banners as well.

Shares are now trading at $10.10 after setting a near-historic low of $9.94 earlier this morning. The 52-week high is $27.00.

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