Wall Street's blue chip index plunged 104 points to close below the 10,000 levels for the first time in three months.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to finish at 9908.39 as European debt woes continued to weigh down market sentiment.Stocks flu
Wall Street's blue chip index plunged 104 points to close below the 10,000 levels for the first time in three months.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to finish at 9908.39 as European debt woes continued to weigh down market sentiment.
Stocks fluctuated during the session, buoyed by some positive upgrades for consumer stocks such as Home Depot, Google and Amazon, but investors remained fixed on banking sector concerns.
Bank of America fell 3.5%, American Express 2.8% and JP Morgan Chase 1.6%. The sector continues to be plagued by worries over how it may be affected by the Obama administration's plans for increased regulation.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7% to 2126.05. The S&P 500 index shed 0.9% to 1056.74,
Other markets
Canadian shares fell with the S&P/TSX Composite Index finishing 0.9% down at 11,123.37.
European markets ended mostly higher in choppy trading as sovereign debt issues continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
Greek financial markets extended last week's sharp losses as investors sold off bank stocks. The Athens stock exchange closed 3.9% lower at 1806.40 on relatively heavy turnover.
Other markets started higher but turned lower on mounting concerns over how banks and insurers will affected by possible sovereign-debt problems.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index closed with a rise of 0.7% to 239.04.
The UK FTSE 100 index rose 0.6% to 5092.33, the German DAX climbed 0.9% to 5484.85 and the French CAC-40 index advanced 1.2% to 3607.27.
In Asia, Japanese shares fell 1.1%, with the Nikkei finishing below 10,000 for the first time in nearly two months.
Kirin Holdings, owner of Lion Nathan, slumped 7.3% on heavy trading volumes after it has ended merger talks with unlisted Suntory Holdings, owner of Frucor Beverages, because of differences over control and listing issues.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies fell 105.27 points to 9951.82.
In Seoul, the Kospi fell 0.9% to 1552.79, with financial issues leading the declines. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index declined 0.6% to 19550.89.
Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude futures rose slightly as the flight out of commodities and equities that knocked oil prices down 7.5% in the last two trading days looks to have subsided.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery settled 70USc higher at $US71.89 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 19USc, or 0.3%, higher at $US69.78 a barrel.
Gold futures rose as some participants decided that last week's sharp selloff created bargain buying opportunities.
The front month contract for February delivery was up $US17.20, or 1.6%. at $US1,069.40 an ounce in New York, more than recovering Friday's drop.
The most-active April contract was up $US13.40 to $US1066.20. The contract lost more than $US65 over the previous three sessions.
Futures exchanges in the US and Europe saw trading jump on Friday to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.
More than 18.6 million futures and options contracts changed hands at Chicago-based CME, the world's largest futures-exchange operator.
ICE Futures Europe, which trades the Brent oil contract, recorded its busiest day ever with some 1.34 million contracts changing hands. Brent posted record daily volume of 713,496 contracts, far exceeding the previous mark of 581,685 contracts on December 9 last year.
Currencies: euro, dollar up
The euro eked out a small advance against the dollar but was kept under pressure by sovereign debt issues in Europe. It had strengthened to $US1.3698 from $US1.3665 late on Friday.
The dollar moved to ¥89.28 from ¥89.38. The euro was at ¥122.17 from ¥122.14 .
The UK pound strengthened to $US1.5648 from $US1.5631.
