Stock Market Watch

Stocks End Lower on Persistent Euro Zone Worries

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Stocks ended lower in trading today as persistent euro zone worries weighed down sentiment yet again. All three major indexes gained in early trading today; however, stocks shed the early gains after Belgium’s credit rating was slashed one notch by Standard & Poor’s. Earlier, Portugal’s credit rating was downgraded to below investment grade by Fitch’s. Hungary, a non-euro zone member, saw its debt rating downgraded to junk status by Moody’s on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Italy was forced to an average yield of 6.5% at an auction of six-year bonds. This is almost double of what the country paid at an auction October. Meanwhile, yields on the country’s 10-year bonds also rose sharply, crossing the 7% mark yet again.


The Dow Jones ended the day 0.23% lower at 11,231.78, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.27% lower at 1,158.67, and the Nasdaq ended the day 0.75% lower at 2,441.51.

Energy stocks were the worst performers in the S&P 500 in trading today, ending the day 0.91% lower. Basic Materials stocks ended the day 0.55% lower. Technology stocks also fell sharply, ending the day 0.60% lower. Consumer Cyclical stocks were the best performers in the S&P 500 today, ending the day 0.58% higher.

Among the major gainers and losers in trading today were Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), which ended the day 6.78% lower at $63.86, POZEN Inc. (NASDAQ: POZN), which ended the day 44.80% higher at $3.62, and InterOil Corporation (NYSE: IOC), which ended the day 6.22% higher at $55.64.

Despite worries about the debt crisis, European markets finished higher today. The FTSE 100 Index in London ended the day 1.4% higher, while the DAX Index in Germany ended the day 1.7% higher at 5,421. Asian markets ended mostly lower overnight, with the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong falling 1.4%.

 

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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