US Market Close
US markets edged their way up from session lows yet still settled losses in the 1% range. Initially weakness was the result of debt issues in Eurolands markets and the US opened trade sharply lower.
The initial sell-off came as a culmination of concerns stemming from speculation about debt restructuring for less fiscally responsible eurozone nations like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal and news that analysts at S&P lowered their outlook on US debt to Negative.
Those headlines completely overshadowed the latest round of earnings results, which included upside earnings surprises from Citigroup, Halliburton and Eli Lilly. Solid results didn't necessarily translate to gains in the face of across the board selling interest.
At one stage the Dow was down more than 200 points and the S&P 500 was down more than 20 points and traded through 1300 level to 1295. The Dow finished off 140.24 (-1.14 %), the Nasdaq off 29.27 (-1.06 %) , S&P off 14.54 (-1.10 %). Commodity wise, Crude, Heating Natural Gas and Gasoline were all off in the futures side.
