Stock Market, Stocks Down | featured news

Personal incomes and spending come in flat for June, worse than the slight gains anticipated.

Stocks tumbled Friday after the Labor Department said hiring remains weak and Hungary became the latest European country to report its economy is in crisis.

The stock market tumbled again Thursday after another drop in the euro and disappointing U.S. employment news darkened investors already bleak view of the world economy. Interest rates fell sharply in the Treasury market as investors once again sought the safety of U.S. government debt.

The European economy was once again the focus of Wall Street Wednesday morning after Germany enacted a ban on a certain form of short-selling. Europe's monetary woes have dragged on U.S. equity markets for months as investors weigh the potential long-term impact of a sluggish economy in the region and the possibility that this slowness could upend the global financial recovery. Stateside economic data on consumer prices, meanwhile, continues to point to a slow--but steady--recovery. Stronger than expected earnings reports from Hewlett-Packard, Deere and Target did little to lift stocks in early trading.

President Barack Obama said Friday that regulatory authorities were probing one of the wildest trading days in Wall Street history that left investors, government officials and traders scratching around for a cause.