U.S. Stocks Fall

By Donna Kardos Yesalavich And Kristina Peterson

NEW YORK—Stocks ended November on a sour note, falling on continued worries about the European sovereign-debt crisis and representing the market's first monthly drop since August.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 46.47 points, or 0.42%, to 11006.02. Bank of America was the measure's worst performer, off 36 cents, or 3.2%, to $10.95, while Procter & Gamble shed 1.06, or 1.7%, to 61.07, and Hewlett-Packard dropped 67 cents, or 1.6%, to 41.93.

But Caterpillar climbed 93 cents, or 1.1%, to 84.60, boosted by a better-than-expected reading on Chicago-area manufacturing. Wal-Mart Stores also rose, up 24 cents, or 0.5%, to 54.09, and Walt Disney added 9 cents, or 0.3%, to 36.51, after the Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence topped estimates.

The blue-chip measure ended November in negative territory, down 1.01%, its first down month since August. The Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq Composite also fell in November, snapping two-month winning streaks for both measures.

The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 26.99, or 1.07%, to 2498.23, hurt by a drop by Google of 26.40, or 4.5%, to 555.71, following reports that the online-search giant is offering to buy Groupon, a social-network site geared toward discount shoppers, in a deal worth $6 billion. Separately, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google has abused a dominant position in online search.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slipped 7.21, or 0.61%, to 1180.55, led by its technology sector.

Investors were encouraged by the better-than-expected manufacturing and consumer-confidence data, but the reports were overshadowed by persisting worries over the euro-zone.

The U.S. data are "tending to suggest that people's worst fears about the U.S. economy have been overstated," said Kevin Gardiner, head of global investment strategy at Barclays Wealth. "I think if it weren't for the ongoing uncertainty posed by what's going on in the euro zone at the moment, [the U.S. data] would have a more pronounced impact on equity prices."

As market sentiment toward the euro zone deteriorates, European officials are planning a new round of bank "stress tests" that they say will be more rigorous than the exams conducted earlier this year.

The euro-zone issues are "something the market is pricing in now and it is just going to have to get accustomed to dealing with some of these rolling solvency issues in Europe," said Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments.

Global risk appetite was also undermined on Tuesday by talk of higher Chinese interest rates as well as disappointing Japanese jobless figures, encouraging investors back into safe havens, such as the dollar and Treasurys.

Among stocks in focus, Seagate Technology dropped 45 cents, or 3.3%, to 13.41, after the maker of computer disk drives cut off talks with private-equity firms about taking it private because potential suitors didn't value the company highly enough.

Barnes & Noble fell 85 cents, or 5.7%, to 14.02. The book retailer's fiscal second quarter loss narrowed, but it gave a muted outlook, projecting a wider-than-anticipated loss for the year and third-quarter earnings below analysts' expectations.

Baldor Electric surged 18.20, or 40%, to 63.31, after Swiss power and automation group ABB Ltd. said it will pay $4.2 billion, including $1.1 billion in debt, for the electric-motormanufacturer. U.S. shares of ABB slipped 21 cents, or 1.1%, to 19.36.

Altera declined 38 cents, or 1.1%, to 35.09, after the chip maker reiterated its fourth-quarter revenue view and projected 2011 gross margins in line with Street expectations. The market had hoped Altera would boost its revenue view.

Force Protection added 11 cents, or 2.2%, to 5.14, after the military-vehicle company received a $280 million order to supply 200 Ocelot military trucks and spares for a U.K. defense program.

Seadrill shed 51 cents, or 1.6%, to 31.09. The Norwegian oil-services company's third-quarter earnings rose 3.8%, meeting analysts' expectations, but revenue came in just shy of consensus.

Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@dowjones.com