Stocks tumbled on Monday, as concerns about Europe returned to the forefront after major credit ratings agencies warned that European leaders had not done enough to tackle the region's debt crisis.
The decline was broad. All l0 S&P industry groups ended in negative territory, and most dropped more than 1 percent. Banks took the biggest hit, while technology shares also fell after Dow component Intel, the world's largest chip maker, lowered expectations for quarterly revenue.
After initial elation on Friday over an agreement reached at an EU summit to enforce tighter budget control over the euro zone, the mood turned on Monday as more doubts arose over whether the measures would be sufficient to quell the euro zone debt crisis.
About four stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, while on the Nasdaq 72 percent of issues fell. Volume was light, with about 6.28 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year's daily average of 8.47 billion.
