S&P's year fades into negative

NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Stocks in New York slipped Wednesday in a holiday-shortened week with the Standard & Poor's 500 index's year hanging in the balance.

An auction of six-month Italian treasury notes was met with enough demand to pull the average yield down from 6.504 percent a month ago to 3.251 percent. The auction sent stocks in Europe higher, but the enthusiasm did not stretch overseas to Wall Street.

The S&P 500 index was in the black for the year Tuesday, but trading Wednesday shaved off 15.79 points, 1.25 percent, to 1,249.64, pushing the index back into the red.

The index started the year at 1,257.64.

The Dow Jones industrial average shed 139.94 points, 1.14 percent, to 12,151.41. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 35.22 points, 1.34 percent, to 2,589.98.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 626 stocks advanced and 2,419 declined on a volume of 2.3 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 25/32 to yield 1.923 percent.

The euro fell to $1.2937 from Tuesday's $1.3071. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 77.95 yen from Tuesday's 77.88 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index shed 0.2 percent, 16.94, to 8,423.62.

In London, the FTSE 100 index gave up 0.1 percent, 5.30, to 5,507.40.