Stocks Slammed As Italy Takes Center Stage

A developing sovereign debt crisis in Italy and widening bond yields in Europe spooked investors on Monday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 151 points to 12,506. The widely watched blue-chip traded in a range between 12,470 and 12,656. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY plunged 1.81% to $131.97. Volume was heavier than normal with around 187.7 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 175.7 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, shed 1.81% to close at $57.96. The QQQ is up 6.43% in 2011. Gold surged on the day as nervous investors rushed into the asset class. COMEX gold futures rose 0.81% to $1,554.10. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD added 0.91% to $151.61. Crude oil fell on concerns over the state of the global recovery. NYMEX crude futures lost 1.05% to $95.19. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO fell 1.35% to $37.29. Treasuries soared on Monday, sending the yield on the 10-Year Note below 3%. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT rallied 1.50% to $96.80. The Yield on the 10-Year plunged 10.8 points to 2.92%. The U.S. Dollar also moved significantly higher on the day, as the Euro continued to crater. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, jumped 1.35% to $21.71. The closely watched EUR/USD pair is trading at $1.4029.