Stock Market Down Nearly 2% as Concerns Over Europe’s Debt Crisis Continue

• Tweet

The stock market today is down big with each of the major indexes down more than 1.5%. The Dow is down more than 180 points, the Nasdaq down 52 points and the S&P down 23 points. Europe continues to be the focal point for investors and not even positive U.S. economic data can budge the market.

Investors continue to worry about high yields on eurozone debt and there have been reports of Germany rejecting any talk of European Central Bank’s funding IMF EU bailouts. News closer to home was positive as jobless claims fell last week to a seven-month low. Construction saw good news as well with construction permits rising to their highest mark since early last year.

Another thing on the minds’ of investors is the upcoming deadline for the ‘supercommittee’ to deal with the U.S. debt. There hasn’t been much progress as decisions on how to deal with the deficit have broken along party lines.

In other news, Ocuppy protest clashes and arrests intensified today after protesters took to the streets in a nationwide ‘Day of Action.’ Many arrests were made in New York City and Dallas today.

Commodities also dropped today with oil and gold prices dropping more than 3%. Oil is down more than $3 and is trading below $100/barrel right now. Gold is down more than $50 at $1,720. Tomorrow will be another interesting trading day as Friday’s are historically down days as traders do not like holding over the weekend in case of any negative news hitting.