Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 9, 2011 in New York City.Spencer Platt
North American stocks fell on Monday, extending declines across Europe after Moody's Investors Service said it will review credit ratings of European countries, and Intel Corp. cut its sales forecast.
The Dow Jones industrial average sank 228 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 11,956. The broader S&P 500 dropped 26 points, or 2 per cent, to 1,230. Canada's S&P/TSX composite index lost 204 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 11,830.
Equity indexes also retreated across Europe after Moody's said last week's meeting of Europe's top government officials failed to resolve the debt crisis that's threatening to unravel the European Union. Standard & Poor's has said previously that it might lower the region's debt ratings.
"The absence of measures to stabilize credit markets over the short term means that the euro area, and the wider EU, remain prone to further shocks and the cohesion of the euro area under continued threat," Moody's said in a statement from London on Monday.
More than five times as many stocks declined as advanced on the Toronto stock exchange, led by materials and energy companies. In the U.S., financial shares as a group led the slump, followed by energy and materials.
Intel, the world's biggest maker of semiconductors, cut its forecast for fourth-quarter sales because the massive flooding in Thailand has disrupted manufacturing of computer parts, and computer makers are ordering fewer of Intel's chips. The stock fell more than 5 per cent, the steepest drop in the Dow Jones.
(Editor's note: an earlier blog post stated that "more than five times as many stocks advanced as declined". This has been corrected.)