Stocks End Lower on Euro Zone Worries

Stocks ended lower in trading today as the uncertainty in euro zone weighed down sentiment. Stocks were also pushed lower by a disappointing jobs report that showed that the U.S. economy added only 80,000 jobs in the month of October even as the unemployment rate dipped to 8%.

The Dow Jones ended the day 0.51% lower at 11,983.24, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.63% lower at 1,253.23, and the Nasdaq ended the day 0.44% lower at 2,686.15.

Focus for most of the day remained on euro zone and the G20 meeting in Cannes. Last week, European leaders had announced a plan to stem the sovereign debt crisis, however, a surprise referendum call by George Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister, on the latest bailout plan for Greece threatened to derail the latest euro zone rescue plan.

Greece eventually scrapped the referendum after pressure from European leaders, however, the country has slipped into a deep political crisis and its future in the euro zone remains uncertain. Meanwhile, Papandreou will face a confidence vote in the Greek parliament today. If he survives then there is hope that last week’s plan, which has the agreement of Greece, will be implemented.

Meanwhile, the G20 leaders, who are meeting in Cannes, are also focusing on finding a solution to stem the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone. However, the G20 meeting has not led to any commitment from non-European members with surplus to provide monetary assistance to bail out troubled euro zone economies.

Amid the uncertainty, European markets fluctuated between gains and losses throughout the day and finished mostly lower.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., all sectors in the S&P 500 ended lower today. Conglomerates and Financials were among the worst performers in the S&P 500 today, ending 1.50% and 1.31% lower, respectively.

Among the major gainers and losers in trading today were LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD), which ended the day 5.86% lower at $82.37, Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), which ended the day 30.55% higher at $26.11, and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), which ended the day 6.75% lower at $27.07.

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.