UDPATE 1-J.C. Penney may slow new store openings

(Recasts, adds comments from Penney)

NEW YORK, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Department store operator J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will merge its buying and marketing operations for its store and online businesses, which could eliminate roughly 150 jobs, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The retailer may also scale back its plans to open new stores, and might cut 10 or more of the 50 stores it planned to open each year in 2008 and 2009, said spokeswoman Darcie Brossart.

"In 2008, we're planing more conservatively," she said.

A slowdown in the U.S. housing market, as well as high energy prices, rising food prices, and turbulence in the credit market have hit Penney's predominately middle-income shoppers.

Its December department store sales fell 7.5 percent on a like-for-like basis, and the company has warned that fourth-quarter earnings would be at the lower end of a previously issued range of $1.65 to $1.80 per share.

The changes in its business were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, which quoted CEO Mike Ullman as saying: "The precipitous drop in sentiment in the fall is what we feel we need to deal with going forward. We're assuming no improvement in the trend in 2008."

Brossart said employees affected by the reorganization will either be offered other jobs or may be offered severance packages. (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando and Nicole Maestri)