New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks slumped on the open Thursday on continued worries about the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. Investors shrugged off encouraging news on the unemployment front and sold into the previous two-day rally.

Just after 9:30 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 107 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 11 points and the NASDAQ gave back 13 points.

Reports that private sector employment climbed 325,000 in December, and that the number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell 1.6 percent last month, its lowest level since June 2010, did little to buoy U.S. equities.

Weighing on markets was a less-than-impressive French debt offering, a falling euro, and a tepid German bond auction on Wednesday.

In U.S. corporate news, retailers Macy’s, Limited and Zumiez all posted solid same-store sales results and boosted their future earnings guidance higher.

Pepsi fell after reports that the soft drink maker is mulling cutting 4,000 employees and lowering pension contributions in an effort to raise earnings. Shares were trading lower by 32 cents to $66.41 per share.

Eastman Kodak continued to fall on reports the iconic company may be on the verge of filing bankruptcy. The firm has already been warned about possible delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of EK were last quoted at just 42 cents.

In commodities, gold was lower by $13.60 to $1,599 a troy ounce, silver was off 28 cents to $28.91 and oil was down 70 cents to $102.49 a barrel.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street stocks fell on the open Monday as doubts continued to linger that a deal over economic integration in Europe will not be enough to keep the region’s two-year sovereign debt crisis from spreading farther.

Last week’s summit in Brussels did not produce decisive initiatives, leaving the eurozone, and the rest of the world, prone to more shocks to already shaky financial systems.

Last week, Standard & Poor’s put 15 eurozone countries on a credit watch for a potential downgrade. The European Union had agreed to set stricter budget rules for the eurozone area and to provide up to €200 billion in bilateral loans to the International Monetary Fund in response to the crisis. But many still believe it is too little too late.

Just after 9:30 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 70 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index dropped 8 points and the NASDAQ was off 31 points. Financials, oils and commodity related equities all tumbled.

Commodities also fell hard. Oil was down $1.43 to $97.95 a barrel, and gold was down $42. 80 in heavy selling to $1,674 a troy ounce.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks rallied Friday morning on the heels of strong gains in Europe. Investors were buoyant and hopeful this weekend’s European Summit would lead to some sort of resolve to stem the region’s threatening sovereign debt crisis.

By 11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 200 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index rose almost 20 points, and the recently battered NASDAQ climbed 40 points.

Overseas, Europe was widely higher overall as the Stoxx Europe 600 jumped 1.9 percent. Even though an agreement to expand the euro zone’s bailout fund will not be reached by Sunday as was previously believed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a joint statement promising to produce a comprehensive plan by Wednesday.

Both U.S. markets and those abroad have been hinging on any news regarding the euro zone bailout, and with no economic news releases set for Friday, stocks reacted strongly to the hope of some sort of resolution overseas.

Gold futures glittered, climbing over $30 an ounce and oil advanced by $2.40 to $88.47 a barrel.

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Munich, Germany (AHN) – The world’s largest bond fund urged Greece, Ireland and Portugal on Monday to temporarily leave the eurozone. Pacific Investment Management Company said the time away from the regional currency should be used by the three European Union members to restructure their debts.

Andrew Bosomworth, head of Pimco’s Europe portfolio management, warned that the continued stay of the three financial-challenged EU members could result in a break-up of the euro. He proposed a devaluation of the three nations’ old currency so they could recover their financial health.

Bosomworth said that despite the international bailout, the euro crisis will remain and market tension will go on into 2011. He criticized the EU strategy of making Greece, Ireland and Portugal put tough fiscal measures in place without an offsetting stimulus because it would result in failure. The Pimco official explained austerity measures would hinder growth needed by the three economies to stabilize their debt levels.

Prior to the bailout agreement reached by Ireland with the International Monetary Fund and EU, Pimco urged depositors to withdraw their finds from Irish banks.

To raise cash, the Bank of Ireland in November auctioned more than 150 of its painting and sculpture collection at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel.

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