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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

S&P 500 Caps Longest Drop Since November on Europe Woes

U.S. stocks declined for a fifth straight day, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its longest losing streak since November, as a surge in Spanish and Italian bond yields fueled concern Europe’s debt crisis is worsening.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most- dependent on the economy lost 2.7 percent. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) dropped at least 3 percent. Alcoa Inc. (AA), which declined 2.9 percent in regular trading, jumped 5 percent at 4:25 p.m. New York time after reporting an unexpected profit. Best Buy Co., the world’s largest electronics retailer, slumped 5.9 percent as Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn resigned.

The S&P 500 declined 1.7 percent to 1,358.59, its biggest loss in 2012, at 4 p.m. New York time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 213.66 points, or 1.7 percent, to 12,715.93. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index surged 8.4 percent to 20.39, rallying for a record eighth day. More than 8.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, the most since March 16 and 21 percent above the three-month average

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