U.S. stocks declined Thursday, led by the technology sector, after a dismal outlook from Cisco Systems prompted a broad market selloff. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 80 points, or 0.7%, to 11277, although the measure earlier fell as much as 126 points.

Cisco recently led the blue chip index's decline, plunging 16% and erasing nearly two months of gains, after the technology bellwether offered a weaker than expected sales forecast. Investors erased as much as $24 billion from the company's market value Thursday. The Internet equipment company said its first quarter profit rose 8% from a year earlier, but warned of slower revenue growth, citing weakening orders from cable TV operators and government agencies.

Cisco's results weighed on Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and International Business Machines, which were all among the Dow's biggest decliners. IBM's 1.3% drop, combined with Boeing's 2.1% decline and Cisco's fall accounted for roughly 70% of the price weighted Dow's drop Thursday.

The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite, which has risen in 21 of the last 25 trading days, pared earlier losses and was recently down 0.9% at 2556. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 0.5% to 1212, with the technology and financial sectors recently leading the declines.

European markets

European stock markets ended Thursday's session mostly lower as worries over Ireland's financial health and the outcome of the Group of 20 meeting encouraged traders to lock in some recent gains. German industrial conglomerate Siemens bucked the negative trend after announcing a 70% increase in its dividend and setting ambitious growth targets. Siemens shares gained 2.6% and helped the DAX 30 index close 0.1% higher at 6,723.41.

But most European equity markets headed lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 index edged down less than 0.1% to close at 271.39. Fears about sovereign debt continued to hit the peripheral markets and financial stocks across the region as the cost of insuring the debt of Ireland, Portugal and Spain hit records.

The Portuguese PSI 20 index closed down 1.5%, Spain's benchmark IBEX-35 index fell 0.8% and Greece's ASE Composite index slumped 1.1%. Ireland's ISEQ ended trading down 1.3%, led lower by Bank of Ireland, which slumped around 8% and is down nearly 50% since early October. The French CAC 40 index closed down 0.5% at 3,867.35, pressured by a 2.4% drop for shares of banking group Credit Agricole.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dipped 0.03% to 5,815.23 as gains for mining and oil stocks were offset by losses in the financial sector. Antofagasta PLC rose 4.8%, Xstrata jumped 3.7% and Kazakhmys gained 3.8% after a bullish note on the mining sector from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which upgraded all three firms to buy on expectations that metal prices will rise sharply.

Asian markets

Asian stock markets ended mixed Thursday with energy firms and Chinese banks higher in Hong Kong and on the mainland. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 0.3% higher, South Korea's Kospi fell 2.7% and Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.8% and China's Shanghai Composite ended 1.0% higher.

Data released earlier in the day showed China's consumer price index jumped 4.4% in October from a year earlier, accelerating from September's 3.6% rise. The data also topped economists' estimate of a 4.0% rise. In Hong Kong, offshore oil producer Cnooc rose 3.4% and PetroChina ended 3.3% higher while on the mainland, coal miner China Shenhua Energy ended up 2.5% and Sinopec soared 5.2%.

Other data also released during the day showed the economy was still in good shape, with fixed asset investment in urban areas rising 24.4% in the January-October period, in line with expectations. Also, Chinese banks extended a higher than anticipated CNY587.7 billion in new yuan loans for October. Japanese stocks rose on the back of exporters in the wake of the yen's recent weakness against the U.S. dollar. Toyota Motor rose 2.0% and Nikon added 1.4%.

Base metals

Base metals closed mostly higher on the London Metal Exchange Thursday despite a pullback from their early peaks as the dollar strengthened against the euro. LME three month copper closed 0.9% higher, and is now up 2.7% on a week ago. Analysts are predicting further gains for the metals, with copper charts still constructive and aluminum looking likely to trend higher after its current consolidation. The red metal broke through to a new record at $8,966/ton early Wednesday on the back of strong Chinese economic data.

Crude futures settled flat at $87.81 a barrel Thursday after retreating from fresh highs reached in electronic trading following strong economic data from China. Nymex crude previously hit a 25-month high of $88.63 in electronic trading, but retreated from that level. The markets are correcting following a brisk run toward $90 a barrel the last two weeks, said Peter Donovan, vice president at Vantage Trading in New York.

Gold futures recaptured the $1,400 an ounce level as risk averse investors renewed their interest in bullion's perceived safety and following steep corrections for metals in the previous session. Gold futures for December delivery gained $4, or 0.3%, to $1,403.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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