Stock Market News for December 1, 2010

Stocks ended November on a down note as lingering sovereign-debt worries overshadowed better-than-anticipated manufacturing and consumer confidence data. A glum housing report also affected sentiments. 

The blue-chip Dow average, after dropping as much as 110 points at the open, closed off 46 points. It was the Dow average’s first monthly drop since August. The average fell 1% in November.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 7 points, or 0.6%, at 1180.55. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite index suffered deeper losses, closing off 27 points, or 1.1%, at 2498.93. On the New York Stock Exchange, about two stocks fell in price for each one that advanced. For the month, the S&P fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%.

The dollar advanced 0.6% against a basket of currencies. Waning risk appetites sent investors toward safer bets, pushing bond prices higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note dropped to 2.80% from 2.83% late Monday. Gold rose above $1384 an ounce.

Worries related to European debt and geopolitical tensions in the Korean peninsula have whipsawed stocks lately. Investors have been concerned that these developments would hurt an already fragile economic recovery. Those worries have led to widespread selloff in stocks.

Yesterday, losses were led by technology, healthcare and energy companies. Financials also led on the downside, weigh down by reports that the infamous WikiLeaks would expose unethical practices at one of the big U.S. banks. Shares in Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS - Analyst Report) fell almost 2% to $156.14. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Analyst Report) fell 1.9% to $24.46.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Analyst Report) fell 3.2% to $10.95 amid reports that the WikiLeaks documents feature matters related to the bank. Banking analyst Dick Bove, however, took that in stride as he noted that though the leaks might prove “sensational,” they are not likely to prove “relevant.” Bove kept his buy rating on BofA shares.   

Back in Europe, this morning's auction of $651.6 million in Portugal's 12-month Treasury notes proved better than expected. The auction witnessed a relatively healthy demand, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.5. However, the yield of 5.281% topped November's 4.81.

Shares in Google (NASDAQ:GOOG - Analyst Report) dropped 4.5% after European authorities said they were investigating if the online search giant had violated antitrust rules. Meanwhile, Google announced that it had agreed to acquire discount coupon retailer Groupon. News reports said the deal could be worth as much as $6 billion.  

All ten S&P500 industry sectors fell on the day. Leading the decliners, the technology sector dropped 1.4%, followed by losses in financials (-0.8%), health care (-0.8%), consumer goods (-0.5%), consumer services (-0.4%), oil and gas (-0.3%), industrials (-0.3%), basic materials (-0.2%), utilities (-0.1%), and telecommunications (-0.01%).

Read the full analyst report on GS

Read the full analyst report on MS

Read the full analyst report on BAC

Read the full analyst report on GOOG