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Wall Street ended a six-day rally as a strengthening US dollar placed pressure on the market. Energy and financial stocks struggled as investors locked in profits.

In economic news, 502,000 initial jobs claims were filed last week, the lowest level in 10 months.

Meanwhile, accorrding to the Treasury Department the federal deficit reached $176.4 billion in October.  

The Dow Jones shed 93.79 points, or 0.91%, to 10,197.47, the S&P 500 lost 11.27 points, or 1.03%, to 1,087.24 and the NASDAQ fell 17.88 points, or 0.83%, to 2,149.02.

Energy stocks tracked the price of crude lower. Exxon Mobil and Chevron shed 1.4% each, while ConocoPhillips lost 1.8%.

Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan fell between 2.3% and 2.4%.

Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo weakened 2.2% and 2%.

Hewlett-Packard lost 0.6% despite agreeing to buy 3Com for US$2.7 billion. 3Com shares surged 31.1%.

IBM and Apple slid 0.7% and 0.6%, while Microsoft and Oracle advanced 0.8% and 0.6%.

Chipmaker Intel shed 0.8% after agreeing to pay rival Advanced Micro Devices US$1.25 billion to settle a dispute. Advanced Micro Devices shares surged 21.8%.

Wal-Mart put on 0.5% after beating third-quarter EPS estimates and increasing full-year earnings guidance. However, the retailer reported third-quarter revenue that fell short of expectations and said fourth quarter EPS would fall short of consensus estimates.

Target dropped 2.4%.

General Electric slid 0.5% as it offloaded its security unit to United Technologies in a deal worth US$1.82 billion. United Technologies shares weakened 0.4%.

Machinery maker and Dow component Caterpillar fell 2.5%.

NYMEX light crude oil for December delivery lost US$2.34 to settle at US$76.94 a barrel.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell US$8 to settle at US$1,106.50 an ounce.

European Markets

European markets closed close to the gain line. Telco’s rallied on the back of positive earnings results, while merger news boosted airliners.

The UK benchmark FTSE 100 added 9.75, or 0.19% to 5,276.50. The French CAC40 shed 6.32 points, or 0.17% to 3,808.07, while the German DAX slid 4.39, or 0.08% to 5,663.96.

BT Group rose 3.7% after increasing its full-year earnings outlook. Rival UK telco Vodafone put on 1.3%, while Deutsche Telekom added 0.7%.

British Airways climbed 7.5% as board discussions made it clearer that a merger with Spain's Iberia was increasingly likely.

Air France-KLM advanced 3.4%.

French banks Société Generale and BNP Paribas fell 1.6% and 1.2%, while insurer AXA weakened 1%.

Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank dipped 1.6% and 0.8% as Royal Bank Of Scotland Group lost 3%.

On the other side of the line, Standard Chartered and HSBC gained 2% and 0.9%.

A fall in commodity prices sent resource stocks lower. Aussie peers BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto shed 0.9% and 0.6%, while Antofagasta lost 1%.

Anglo American and Xstrata bucked trend with gains of 1.4% and 1.2%.

Energy majors BG Group, BP and Royal Dutch Shell lost between 0.8% and 1%, while Total dipped 0.5%.

Peugeot rose 0.4% after the automaker upgraded its full-year outlook. Renault put on 2.4%, while Volkswagen dropped 5.1%.

Japanese Markets

On the busiest day for the Nikkei this month, the index sank to five-week lows as more than 80% of stocks retreated. Negative corporate earnings reports outweighed government commitments to keep interest rates low in the battle for investor sentiment.

The Nikkei 225 shed 67.19, or 0.68% to 9,804.49.

The volatile stock Aiful, which lends money to small businesses, slumped 6.5%.

Carmakers were stronger following an upgrade to select stocks by Goldman Sachs.

Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru cars, rallied 4.4%, while Honda climbed 1.8%.

Toyota rose 2.6%. Mazda bucked the trend, losing 1.9%.

Ebara, an industrial pumpmaker, slumped 9.4%.

Nippon Yusen K.K. tumbled 4% after announcing plans to issue more shares, diluting the stock. Fellow shipper Kawasaki Kisen K.K. slumped 6.1%.

Hong Kong Markets

Hong Kong stocks weakened 1% as the country’s premier warned that the global economics recovery would not be easy. Banks and property stocks led the slid. 

The Hang Seng fell 229.64, or 1.01% to 22,397.57.

HSBC fell 1.1% after reaching a 13-month high. ICBC and China Construction Bank lost 1.6% and 1.1%.

Bank of China shed 2.3%.

Bank of East Asia gained 2.1% to a 16-month high with anticipation of a takeover by the Malaysian conglomerate Guoco Group.

Taifook Securities climbed 12.9% with speculation China Construction Bank will be the major buyer in the sale of part or all of its 62% stake.

Citic Pacific spiked 9.1% after making an agreement to sell two-thirds of its Australian iron ore to Chinese Steel mills.

Property stocks Henderson Land and Wharf Holdings slipped 2% and 3.7%.

Geely Auto jumped 9.6% after consolidating a fundraising deal with Goldman Sachs.

Glaxy Entertainment dropped 3.4% as continuous changes in design plans for the Cotai Strip project resulted in increased costs.

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