As we close out the second week of 2012, the weight of the European debt crisis still looms over the U.S. stock market. The S&P 500, which experienced a consecutive four-day rise, declined half a percent to close at 1,289.09 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped approximately 49 points to close at 12,422.06. Leading the losses in the U.S. market was the Financial sector: JPMorgan Chase and Co. reported a drop in profit while Bank of America and Citigroup Inc. both fell more than 2 percent. The fall in the overall world markets comes after news of Standard & Poor’s (who confirmed after the U.S. markets closed) that France’s credit rating would be cut from AAA to AA+. Along with France, other downgrades will include Austria, Italy, Slovakia, Malta, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain, and Slovenia. It was reported that Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands would not be cut.

 – Charles Stack