[BRIEFING.COM] Sellers returned to the fold on Monday to hand stocks sizable losses. Financials led the slide.

Financials fell to a 2.0% loss and were weak since the open of trade, which was relatively rocky. Pressure against the sector was largely rooted in an effort by market participants to pare their positions in bank stocks, given the group's sensitivity to the threats of Europe. Sentiment in Europe seemed to sour during the weekend, resulting in losses for the region's major bourses and a sharply lower day for the euro. Pressure came even though embattled Italy approved new austerity measures and held another successful debt offering.

Tech stocks fought to keep sellers at bay for the first couple of hours, but ultimately succumbed to broad market selling pressure to settle with a 0.6% loss. Even IBM (IBM 187.35, -0.03) surrendered a gain after it had been bid higher on the back of word from billionaire investor Warren Buffett that he has been acquiring shares in the company for the past month.

The economic calendar was entirely empty today and earnings were limited to only a handful of names. Lowe's (LOW 23.50, +0.39) posted an upside earnings surprise and issued mixed guidance, but in-line earnings from J.C. Penney (JCP 32.98, -0.94) were overshadowed by a disappointing forecast.

With so few catalysts for trade today, share volume on the NYSE totaled at paltry 700 million. Over the past 50 days share volume has been closer to 1 billion, on average.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Tech -0.6%, Consumer Staples -0.7%, Consumer Discretionary -0.7%, Health Care -0.7%, Industrials -0.7%, Materials -0.9%, Telecom -1.1%, Utilities -1.2%, Energy -1.2%, Financials -2.0%

Source: Briefing