U.S. stocks slipped Monday as returning concerns over European sovereign debt added to worries about the effects of the Federal Reserve's recent actions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 44 points, or 0.4%, to 11400. Boeing was the measure's worst performer with a drop of 1.5% after Aviation Week Friday reported that the company has told several of its early customers that delivery of the 787 Dreamliner will be delayed by as much as 10 months.

McDonald's was also weak, off 0.3%. The fast food giant's same store sales rose 6.5% in October from a year earlier, topping its own forecast and analysts' estimates, but investors were disappointed by a 5.6% increase in U.S. comparable sales, which came in short of analysts' forecast for a 6% gain.

The Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.1% to 2582. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index shed 0.2% to 1223. The declines came as the market digested the Dow's 2.9% climb last week that brought the measure to highs not seen since before the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. The measure is up about 14% from late August, with much of the rally fueled by expectations for the Republican Party's win of control of the House of Representatives last week, and the Federal Reserve's pledge to inject more money into the economy.

But investors are now wondering whether the market may have overdone the impacts of the election and stimulus move, dubbed by Wall Street as QE2. Some worried that the Fed's actions could spur inflation in prices of commodities. Meanwhile, concerns about the debt situation in Ireland, Portugal and Spain resurfaced.

The euro fell to $1.3942, compared with $1.4034 late Friday in New York, as funding costs grew for all three countries while the costs to insure against their debt also rose. Also hurting the euro, German industrial production unexpectedly fell in September from the previous month as the economic recovery proceeded more moderately.

European markets

European bourses took a breather from last week's solid gains Monday, starting the week without much direction as the earnings flow subsided for a day and investors sold off defensive stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 index hovered near the unchanged mark all day and closed virtually flat at 271.91. The index, which has risen 2.2% so far this month, finished just shy of a 52 week high Friday.

Of the main regional indexes in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was the biggest decliner, ending down 0.4% at 5,849.96, as miners weighed. Kavanagh said it would probably take some turnaround in the financial sector, which has struggled of late, to drive the index higher in the near term. Third quarter results from Barclays PLC, due Tuesday, could be a catalyst.

Rolls Royce was initially a top decliner on the benchmark but the shares got a lift late in the session after the company said in a statement it is now clear that last week's incident involving a Qantas Airways A380 was specific to the Trent 900 engine and unrelated to a separate Trent 1000 incident in August. The company's shares closed up 2.7%. Germany's DAX 30 index slipped 0.1% to 6,750.50. Shares of Commerzbank AG declined more than 5% after the bank swung to a small profit in the third quarter but missed consensus expectations and reported lower investment banking revenue.

In France, the CAC-40 index slipped 0.1% to 3,913.70. Shares of media group Lagardere SA declined 2.2% after it reported a 2.5% increase in like for like sales over the first nine months of the year but said the pace of advertising revenue growth would slow in the fourth quarter. Greece's ASE Composite index gained 1.2% to 1,526.91 after the country's prime minister dropped his threat to call an early election. Local elections Sunday showed support for his government and the austerity measures it has adopted to pull the country out of a severe financial crisis.

Asian markets

Asian markets finished mixed Monday though property and oil firms led the Chinese market higher. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended up 1.1%, South Korea's Kospi Composite added 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.4% and China's Shanghai Composite climbed 1.0%.

China Vanke rose 1.6% and Poly Real Estate Group ending 2.2% higher. Oil plays were also up after crude oil settled at a two-year high in New York Friday following the U.S. Labor Department's announcement that the U.S. economy had added 151,000 jobs last month. PetroChina was 1.3% higher and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp gained 0.8%.

In Tokyo, stocks ended at a three month high at 9732.92 as better than expected U.S. jobs data helped strengthen the dollar, and strong corporate results continued to support share prices.

Base metals

Base metals closed mixed on the London Metal Exchange Monday, with copper and tin the only markets to record gains as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on prices. However analysts say the robust uptrend looks likely to continue across the markets, with dips well bid as improved economic data and confirmation of further quantitative easing in the U.S. provide support. LME three month copper closed at $8,659 a metric ton, up $5 on Friday's PM kerb close.

LME three month tin closed up $155 at $26,595/ton. Oil futures settled higher Monday, gaining 21 cents, or 0.2%, to $87.06. Light, sweet crude for December delivery earlier touched a two year high of $87.49 a barrel in Asian trading. Gold futures topped $1,400 for the first time amid uncertainty on the outcome of Group of 20 currency talks and renewed worries about sovereign debt in Europe.

Further highlighting gold's role as an alternative currency, the World Bank president advocated the inclusion of the metal in a revamped global monetary system. The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, rose $5.50, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,403.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract hit an intraday record of $1,409.40 in electronic trading after the close.

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