- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- AIG, Ex-CEO Greenberg Reach Pact to Settle Disputes
- Bank of America CEO Search May Extend Into 2010
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- 'Cancer of Fraud' Permeates Health Care System: Critics
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- For Many in US, It Will Be a Scaled-Down Holiday Season
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
MOST SHARED
- The Executive Job Search
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Salvation Army's Kettles Now Credit Card-Ready
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- Activision Prepares to Double Dip on ‘Modern Warfare 2’
- Topless Business Is Taking Off
- US Plans to Reduce Emissions By 17% Within Next Ten Years
- Black Friday: Can Banks Tap the Frenzy, Too?
Text Size 
Stocks pulled back Monday after logging their best five-day streak in 75 years last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 400 points, or nearly 5 percent, after gaining more than 1,200 points in the prior five serssions.
The S&P 500 index and Nasdaq also fell sharply, with both down more than 5.5 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was the hardest hit among the three amid worries about the impact of the slowdown on tech spending.
Speaking of the slowdown, it's official: We're in recession. And have been for a year. The National Bureau of Economic Research officially declared today that the U.S. economy slipped into recession in December 2007.
Today's economic data backed up the call: The Institute for Supply Management reported its manufacturing index fell to 36.2 in November, the weakest reading since 1982. Readings below 50 indicate contraction. This came on the heels of reports of weaker manufacturing activity in China and Europe.
A separate report showed U.S. construction spending fell 1.2 percent in October after holding steady in September.
And, while early projections indicate Black Friday sales rose 3 percent from last year, retail stocks fell more than 4 percent amid worries that increased traffic won't translate into profits and this will be one of the worst holiday seasons for retailers in decades.
"Things are looking quite bleak. Everyone acknowledges that," Brian Gendreau, investment strategist at ING Investment Management, told Reuters. "The question is to what extent is that already priced into the markets. Apparently, not entirely."
Department-store operators took it on the chin, with big declines in Macy's [M
Loading...
()
] and JC Penney [JCP
Loading...
()
].
But, even the discount chains were hard hit, with Wal-Mart [WMT
Loading...
()
], Big Lots [BIG
Loading...
()
] and Target [TGT
Loading...
()
] falling sharply.
Shoppers are expected to hit online stores in droves today, "Cyber Monday," as the Monday after Thanksgiving has come to be known, but investors weren't buying it, sending shares of online retailers Amazon [AMZN
Loading...
()
] and eBay [EBAY
Loading...
()
] lower as well.
>> Check in on how the holiday season is shaping up at CNBC's Holiday Central.
Worse news looks set for consumer and credit markets, as the credit-card industry may pull back more than $2 trillion of lines of credit over the next year-and-a-half due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, Oppenheimer & Co. banking analyst Meredith Whitney said in a research note.
Johnson & Johnson [JNJ
Loading...
()
] shares dropped after the company announced it was acquiring surgical products manufacturer Mentor [MNT
Loading...
()
] for $1.07 billion or $31 a share, a nearly 100 percent premium on the company's Friday closing price. Mentor shares surged more than 85 percent in premarket trading.
Ford shares [F
Loading...
()
] retreated, after earlier being the biggest gainer on the S&P 500, after the auto maker said it's mulling options for its premium brand Volvo, including a possible sale of the Sweden-based division.
General Motors [GM
Loading...
()
] skidded after the auto maker's board met Sunday to review a restructuring plan intended to cut costs and win support for up to $12 billion in emergency funding from the U.S. government. GM is due to present a viability plan to Congress on Tuesday.
Sources inside Yahoo [YHOO
Loading...
()
] and Microsoft [MSFT
Loading...
()
] told CNBC a deal in which Microsoft would by Yahoo's search division was not imminent, despite a report in the Sunday Times that claimed the two were nearing an agreement on the issue.
Yahoo shares rose, while Microsoft fell.
Financial stocks tumbled. Citigroup [C
Loading...
()
] lost more than 10 percent after an analyst projected more losses for the bank. Fellow Dow components Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
] and JPMorgan [JPM
Loading...
()
] also fell sharply.
Asian stocks closed mixed, with the Nikkei down 1.35 percent but the Shanghai Composite up 1.25 percent.
In Europe, last week's rally fizzled as well and stocks were lower, with banks and commodities stocks leading overall markets down.
Print
Email
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
- Eric Schmidt pledges to create a virtual copy of the Iraq National Museum at Google’s expense.
- Bill Griffeth is taking a leave of absence from CNBC and Power Lunch for a year. Here's a message from Bill.
- More shoppers than ever plan to comparison-shop this season. Who will benefit?
- It may be the most unusual guide to business you'll read.
- How can you get out of debt and back on the road to recovery? Follow these ten steps.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes