Markets end mixed amid anxiety

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Stocks pared their losses and ended narrowly mixed Monday amid anxiety over Europe’s financial crisis and a widening probe into insider trading on Wall Street.

Bank shares slumped after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of two hedge funds as part of a broad insider- trading probe. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sank 3.4 percent, while Bank of America Corp. fell 3.1 percent.

Retail- and consumer-goods stocks rose on hopes that shoppers will be in a spending mood when they turn up in stores the day after Thanksgiving as the holiday shopping season gets under way.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.97 points, 0.2 percent, to 11,178.58. The Dow was down as much as 149 points earlier.

Bank stocks already were under pressure because of concerns over how the bailout of Ireland announced over the weekend would affect their investment portfolios and ability to increase dividends.

Ireland formally asked for help from its neighbors Sunday after weeks of pressure from the European Union. Though details of the package were still being worked out, Ireland’s government slipped further into crisis Monday as a coalition partner of Prime Minister Brian Cowen threatened to abandon him.

Investors took heart from signs that the holiday shopping season is off to a good start. A widely watched gauge of spending, MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, found apparel sales rose 9.7 percent in the first two weeks of November.