Market Update
Shares in Europe gave up early gains, as a boost from the European Central Bank's bond-buying program announcement fizzled out, and pessimism over the state of the global economy in the wake of the recent U.S. downgrade took over.
At the time of writing, Britain's FTSE fell 1.7%, France's CAC dropped 2.1% while Germany's DAX was trading 2.3% lower.
Stocks opened positive in trade after the E.C.B. said it would buy Italian and Spanish bonds to help prevent the debt crisis, which has engulfed several nations in the region, from spreading. Bond yields in Italy and Spain dropped after the announcement.
But ratings agency S&P's unprecedented downgrade of the United States' debt rating Friday evening offset positive factors, and equities soon gave up gains to trade sharply lower.
Financial-sector stocks were outperformed in the down market, falling less than other sectors. Barclays, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale declined 0.3% to 1.6%.
Resource plays were the worst hit as metal prices fell: BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata tumbled between 3.4% and 4.5%. Oil majors BP, BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell were off 1.2% to 2.3%.
Automakers BMW, Daimler and Renault were trading between 4.5% and 6% lower.