Stocks Continue Late Session Sell-Off Pattern, Dow Swoons 115

Stocks weakened in the final few hours of trading today and accelerated lower into the close as fears of a slowing recovery or double-dip recession drove investors into less risky assets.

The Dow finished 115 points lower to close 9,817, its lowest close of the year. The S&P 500 fell 14 points to 1,050 and the Nasdaq fell 45 points to 2,174.

Another 4-year low in the Euro continued to weigh on equities in the U.S. and gold surged even with some upside seen in the dollar. Gold rose $25, last trading at $1241 for June and $1243.40 for August. Gold looks set to takeout the all-time high of $1249.70 on May 14. ETFs SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), which tracks gold closely, rose 1.93 percent today.

In addition to gold stocks, defensive groups like utilities and consumer staples saw interest today. Electric utility FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) rose 2.7 percent and consumer staple General Mills (NYSE: GIS) rose 1.7 percent today.

Financial stocks were under pressure again today on more negative news in the sector. Goldman Sachs was issued a subpoena by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission for failing to comply with a request for documents and interviews in a timely manner. In addition, two Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) Countrywide mortgage servicing companies will pay $108 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they collected excessive fees from cash-strapped borrowers who were struggling to keep their homes.