DJ30 PointChange: +78.41 Level: 12097.83 NASDAQ PointChange: +28.83 Level: 2655.76 SP500 PointChange: +12.80 Level: 1257.08 NASDAQ-Adv:1754 Dec: 778 NYSE-Adv:2377 Dec: 686
[BRIEFING.COM] The U.S. markets started the day with substantial gains and held steady for most of the day, but afternoon headlines regarding the potential for negative European outlook revisions from Standard & Poors knocked the wind out of stocks.

This morning, stocks began the day with gains alongside strength in European markets as borrowing costs declined sharply in Italy and Spain. This activity followed news Italy unveiled a new austerity plan and reports that the ECB is preparing an injection of EUR1 trillion for the EU through additional bond buying. Then encouraging headlines about agreement between Germany's Merkel and France's Sarkozy helped markets add to their gains after the open.

However, this afternoon the major market averages pared their gains after headlines indicated that S&P was placing Germany and France on ‘creditwatch negative.' This knocked equities back from their highs, and then another headline that S&P will place all 17 Euro nations on ratings downgrade watch sent markets to fresh lows.

Outside of the macro headlines, today's news flow was relatively light. Before the open, it was announced that SuccessFactors (SFSF 29.44, +1.66) would be acquired by SAP for $40.00 per share in cash, representing a 52% premium over its Dec 2 closing price and an enterprise value of ~$3.4 bln.

In economic news, the ISM Services Index for November came in at 52.0, which is down slightly from the 52.9 that was posted in the prior month. It also failed to meet the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 53.4. Factory orders fell 0.4% during October, just as had been expected by those economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Orders for the prior month were revised downward to reflect a 0.1% decline.

Source: Briefing