Stocks Slump on Euro Zone Worries

U.S. stocks dropped about 2% Monday, ending near their lows of the session, after German officials tried to lower expectations that an upcoming meeting of euro-zone officials would yield a speedy fix to Europe’s debt problems. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 247.49 points, or 2.13%, to 11,397.00. The S&P 500 was down 23.72 points, or 1.94%, to 1,200.86. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 52.93 points, or 1.98%, to 2,614.92.

Senate Democrats are unveiling one piece of President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill. It’s part of a series of bills as Congress carves up the sweeping legislation. The new measure is a $35 billion aid package to state and local governments to help them avoid layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters.

Oil prices fell Monday as Europe’s ongoing debt crisis fueled concerns about future energy demand. Benchmark crude finished down 42 cents at $86.38 per barrel in New York, while Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, fell $2.07 to end at $110.16 a barrel in London.

IBM Corp. on Monday reported a third-quarter profit of $3.84 billion, or $3.19 a share, compared with a profit of $3.59 billion, or $2.82 a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was $26.2 billion, up from $24.3 billion.