S&P 500: Worst Thanksgiving Week Since 1932

(Bloomberg) U.S. stocks tumbled in the worst Thanksgiving-week loss for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1932 as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis will spread and American policy makers failed to reach agreement on reducing the federal budget.

Bank of America Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Caterpillar Inc. dropped at least 7.6 percent to lead declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Energy stocks fell the most in the S&P 500 as oil declined for a second week and as Chevron Corp. lost 5.7 percent after it was blocked from drilling in Brazil while the government probes a recent spill. Netflix Inc. slid 18 percent after raising $400 million to bolster cash.

The S&P 500 slid 4.7 percent to 1,158.67, closing at the lowest level since Oct. 7. The Dow fell 564.38 points, or 4.8 percent, to 11,231.78 this week.

“We’ve resumed focus on the European debt issues,” Terry L. Morris, senior equity manager at Wyomissing, Pennsylvania- based National Penn Investors Trust Co., said in a telephone interview. His firm manages about $2.2 billion. “The situation in Europe doesn’t seem to be improving, which makes the market defensive,” he said. “Spending cuts kicking in in the U.S. will be a negative too because it will be a drag on economic growth.”

The S&P 500 has fallen for seven days, the longest streak in four months, and has tumbled 7.6 percent so far in November. U.S. equities erased an early advance on the final session of the week as S&P lowered Belgium’s credit rating and Reuters reported that Greece is demanding private investors accept larger losses on their debt.

Debt Concerns

The cost of insuring European sovereign bonds against default rose to a record this week as Germany failed to find buyers for 35 percent of the bonds offered at an auction. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said market turbulence sparked by the euro region’s sovereign-debt crisis will last for “a few months.”

Congress’s special debt-reduction committee failed to reach an agreement this week, setting the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and fueling concern that economic- stimulus measures that are set to expire will not be renewed. Still, S&P reaffirmed it would keep the U.S.’s credit rating at AA+ after stripping the government of its top AAA grade on Aug. 5.  Read More...