The Lowdown

Stocks and many exchange-traded funds fell sharply before the Monday close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 10000 for the first time since Nov. 4, when it closed at 9802.

The Dow finished the session at 9908, a 1% loss of 104 points. The S&P 500 closed down 9 at 1057, and the Nasdaq ebbed 15 to reach 2126.

U.S. equities had been sluggish early after a bump in the dollar amid ongoing worries about the euro zone's weakest partners.

European stocks gave up early gains partly as concerns mounted about how banks and insurers could be affected by possible sovereign-debt problems in Europe. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index struggled to stay flat; shares in Athens and Lisbon also turned squarely downward.

Meanwhile, prices of bonds issued by governments on Europe's periphery are showing some signs of weakness, and the euro was trading lower against the dollar.

Over the weekend, leaders from the Group of Seven, meeting near the Arctic, said the global economy has improved as they left it to Europe to solve problems over the budget deficit of Greece and other euro-zone members that rattled markets last week.

Few economic reports scheduled to be released this week could lend further support to the strength or weakness of the economic recovery. The weekly unemployment report, which is due out Thursday, will be among the most closely watched releases. Economists predict the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell last week to 465,000 from 480,000, according to Thomson Reuters.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview with ABC the U.S. would "never lose" its AAA rating. Geithner said the U.S. will rein in the deficit once the labor market recovers.

Crude oil continued to stay above $71, and as of 4:04 p.m., was up 49 cents to $71.68 on the Nymex as bargain-hunters swooped in, but sentiment remains bearish due to pressure coming from the rallying U.S. dollar and weak supply-demand fundamentals.

Asian markets suffered declines Monday on uncertainty over sovereign debt in the euro zone, but bargain-buying in banks and miners limited losses in some markets. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% to 9951.82 for its first finish below the psychologically important 10,000-point level in more than two months. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.9%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2%, China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.6% and Taiwan's Taiex ended flat.

For a detailed rundown on Monday s trading session see our market story.

Winners
The S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index fund got a 2.0% bounce amid the wide market swing. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders fun rose 1.0%.

Losers
Despite a rise in gold prices Monday, the Market Vectors Gold Miners fund shed 3.8% on volatility concerns. The iShares MSCI Turkey Index fund dropped 3.1% as global worries gave local investors jitters.

Monday s Industry Headlines

Launching Pad

ProShares plans to launch a fleet of new leveraged and inverse ETFs offering 300% exposure to a lineup of popular indexes. The proposed funds, which would carry an annual expense ratio of 0.95%, would be similar to its existing "UltraPro" ETFs tied to the S&P 500 the ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 ETF and the (SPXU). Each of the 16 funds in the filing will invest in short-term cash instruments, as well as some derivatives and depositary receipts in the case of the two international plays, and Treasury bills in the fixed-income offerings. The planned funds will play off the following indexes: the QQQ, Dow30, MidCap 40, Russell2000, MSCI EAFE, MSCI Emerging Markets, 7-10 Year Treasury, 20+ Year Treasury. There will also be short funds offered for those indexes.

Tuesday s Notebook

Earnings and Conference Calls

Aastrom Biosciences, Acadia Realty Trust, Active Power, Agrium, Allied Healthcare, Alpha Natural Resources, American Commercial Lines, American Financial Group, American Science and Engineering, Amtech Systems, Aramark, Aspen Insurance Holdings, Aspen Technology, Astronics, ATA Inc., Baidu, Barrett Business Services, Biogen Idec, BJ Services, BWAY Holding, Cameron, Capstone Turbine, CareFusionCascade Microtech, Celanese, Centene, Cerner, Church & Dwight, Coca-Cola, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Compugen, Corporate Executive Board, Corrections Corp. of America, Coventry Health Care, Cynosure, Diodes, Dionex, Douglas Emmett, EOG Resources, Gartner, Gaylord Entertainment, Gildan Activewear, Globecomm Systems, Insulet, Integrated Electrical Services, International Flavors & Fragrances, Kforce, Knightsbridge, Kubota, KVH Industries, LCA-Vision, Learning Tree International, Ligand PharmaceuticalsF, Lions Gate Entertainment, Mad Catz Interactive, Martin Marietta Materials, Max Capital Group, Mediware Information Systems, MGP Ingredients, Molson Coors Brewing, National Financial Partners, Netgear, New Frontier Media, Nissan Motor, NYSE Euronext, Peerless, Potlatch, Prospect Capital, Pulte Homes, QuickLogic, Ramtron International, RenaissanceRe Holdings, RG Barry, Rodman & Renshaw, RTI Biologics, Rubicon Technology, Rural/Metro, Rush Enterprises, Seattle Genetics, Semiconductor Manufacturing International, Stepan, Taubman Centers, Temple-Inland, The Coca-Cola, Tier Technologies, UBS, UDR, Ultimate Software, USANA Health Sciences, Valence Technology, Vishay Intertechnology, Vitesse Semiconductor, Walt Disney, Warner Music Group, Web.com, XL Capital, Zebra Technologies

Economic Data

7:45 a.m. ICSC-Goldman Store Sales
8:55 a.m. Redbook
10:00 a.m. Wholesale Trade