Stocks on Wall Street tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below the 11,000 level for most of the trading day.However, Dow stocks gradually recovered to be down 39.51 points down, or 0.4%, at the close (10am NZ time).At its worst, the Dow was
Stocks on Wall Street tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below the 11,000 level for most of the trading day.
However, Dow stocks gradually recovered to be down 39.51 points down, or 0.4%, at the close (10am NZ time).
At its worst, the Dow was down 162.72 points, weighed by continued worries over whether the euro-zone debt crisis can be contained, even with a €85 billion Irish bailout.
Banking stocks led the rebound, with American Express up 2.2%, Bank of America 1.7% and JP Morgan 1.2%.
Hewlett-Packard was its worst performer with a 1.5% drop, Home Depot down 1.3% and Walt Disney 0.8%.
The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4% to 2525.22 and the S&P 500 index eased 0.1% to 1187.77.
Online retailer Amazon.com climbed 1.1% as investors grew more optimistic about sales on Cyber Monday, after the Black Friday shopping weekend signalled a rosier holiday season than last year.
The number of people who shopped at stores and online between Thursday and Sunday jumped 8.7% to 212 million shoppers, according to a National Retail Federation survey.
A record 106.9 million shoppers are expected to hit retailers' websites on Monday, up 11% from last year, according to a separate NRF survey.
Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European stock markets fell as the euro-zone debt focus shifted to nations Spain and Portugal.
Better-than-expected euro-zone confidence data failed to improve the market's mood. The overall economic sentiment indicator rose to 105.3 in November from 103.8 in October, versus expectations of a rise to 104.9.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended down 1.7% at 262.16. The UK's FTSE 100 closed down 2.1% at 5550.95, Germany's DAX gained declined 2.2% to 6697.97 and France's CAC-40 closed 2.5% lower at 3636.96.
In Asia, Tokyo's stock market rose to a five-month closing high as the outlook for exporters brightened, while Hong Kong shares rebounded after last week's declines.
The Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.9% to 10,125.99, its highest close since June 21. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.3% to 23,166.22.
Elsewhere, markets were mixed. Korea's Kospi declined 0.3% to 1895.54. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4% to 4618.51, the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2% to 2866.36 and India's Sensex gained 1.4% to 19,405.10.
Commodities: Oil, gold up
Oil futures were higher as investors pushed crude past $US85 a barrel despite falling equities markets and a sharply higher US dollar.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled $US1.97, or 2.4%, higher at $US85.73 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded $US1.12 higher at $US86.68 a barrel.
Gold futures rose though the stronger US dollar capped gains. The most widely held gold contract, for February delivery, was up $US3.20 at $US1367.50 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Euro down, dollar up
The euro fell below $US1.31 for the first time since September 21 on Monday as the Irish bailout failed to calm concerns of more euro-zone contagion.
Portuguese, Spanish and Belgian five-year sovereign debt credit-default swaps widened to record levels, while an Italian government debt auction met with weak demand.
The euro was at $US1.3080 from $US1.3248 late on Friday. The dollar was at ¥84.36 from ¥84.10, while the euro was at ¥110.34 from ¥111.38.
The UK pound was at $US1.5547 from $US1.5594. The dollar was at 1.0032 Swiss francs from 1.0028 francs.
