Stocks Sink to Start the Week

U.S. stocks opened the week with heavy losses, with the troubled financial sector leading the decline. Overnight losses in Asia and Europe set the tone for today’s weak start.

Citigroup
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was downgraded to “sell” by Goldman Sachs, after analysts forecast the company could face up to $15 billion of write-downs over the next two quarters, forcing it to cut its dividend (read more).

Lowe’s
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reported a 10% decline in third quarter profit, lowered guidance for Q4 and its full-year outlook (read more).

In the biotechnology sector, Genentech
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announced that its cancer drug Avastin showed encouraging results in a Phase II study. Also, Onyx Pharmaceuticals
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announced that the FDA approved a supplemental New Drug Application for their oral anticancer drug Nexavar (read more).

Amazon.com
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introduced a portable reading device, named Amazon Kindle, which it will sell for $399 (read more).

Crude oil is slightly lower, currently trading at $93.71 per barrel. This weekend’s OPEC summit was overshadowed by underling tensions over the differences on the sensitive issue of a weak U.S. dollar (read more).

Market Snapshot

Dow

-158.44 13018.35

NASDAQ

-33.71 2603.53

S&P 500

-20.26 1438.48

  NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

717,592,520 985,536,056

Up Volume

82,282,700 147,693,228

Down Volume

633,489,670 832,073,576

Advances

542 562

Declines

2687 2291

New Highs

21 18

New Lows

430 265

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Electronic Equipment
+1.09%
Mortgage Investment
-6.29%
Processed & Packaged Goods
+0.40%
Copper
-5.48%
Business Equipment
+0.35%
Surety & Title Insurance
-5.42%


Economic
News

None Today