YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: An aggressive selling effort left stocks to suffer another loss. The stock market now sits at its lowest level since June.

A higher debt ceiling and new fiscal measures were signed into law today, but that mattered little to a market that remains threatened by the prospect of a U.S. debt rating downgrade and ongoing concerns about the sluggish pace of the economy's recovery.

Data has been almost entirely underwhelming in the wake of the lackluster GDP report that was posted this past Friday. Just yesterday a disappointing ISM Manufacturing Index reading was reported. This morning it was learned that personal spending during June declined by 0.2%, which contrasts with the consensus call for a 0.1% increase issued by economists polled by Briefing.com. As had been expected, personal incomes increased by 0.1% during June, though.

A breakdown by stocks left the S&P 500 to settle at its session low and suffer its worst one-day drop in nearly a year, seemingly a suggestion that the stock market's seven-session slide isn't losing momentum.

Dow component Pfizer (PFE 18.14, -0.87) was among the hardest hit names, despite an upside earnings surprise for the latest quarter. Coach (COH 61.03, -4.26) also sank sharply after it, too, posted better-than-expected earnings results. Foster Wheeler (FWLT 27.02, +0.56) was one of the few names that managed to score a gain; it did so as traders cheered the company's latest quarterly report.

Automakers were mostly weak following their latest monthly sales numbers. Both General Motors (GM 27.05, -1.02) and Ford (F 11.85, -0.50) experienced annual sales increases of slightly less than 10%. Toyota (TM 81.29, -0.48) suffered a 20% year-over-year slump in July sales, but the stock's loss was tempered by a positive response to the company's strong quarterly report.

This session's selling effort was accompanied by robust share volume. In fact, more than 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE again today. The pick up in participation comes after the pace of trade had been anemic for several months.

Gold and Treasuries, both traditional safe havens, attracted a bevy of buyers. In turn, gold prices spiked more than 1% to a new record above $1640 per ounce then extended the move in electronic trade. As for Treasuries, the benchmark 10-year Note climbed more than a point so that its yield approached 2.60% for the first time since November.

The flight to safety, amid concerns about the situation in Europe, the possibility of a double dip reception, and speculation of QE3, helped precious metals rally today. Dec gold gained 1.4% to finish at $1645.20 per ounce, while Sept silver ended up 2.1% to $40.13 per ounce. Gold futures traded to a new all-time high at $1647.80 in afternoon trade and finished just shy of those levels. Silver futures moved back above $40, and notched highs at $40.39. While gold extended its rally throughout the session, silver remained range bound just below its highs for a good portion of the day.

A pullback in equities, coupled with concerns about events in Europe, caused Sept crude, which finished down 1.2% to $93.79 per barrel, to sell-off in mid-morning trade. It extended that pullback into the afternoon session, where it traded to lows at $93.17. Futures have now closed lower in four of the past five sessions. Sept natural gas, which finished down 0.9% to $4.15 per MMBtu, had a similar session to that of crude oil. It traded lower throughout the session, notching lows at $4.13, before bouncing into the close.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples -1.3%, Utilities -1.6%, Telecom -1.9%, Health Care -2.3%, Tech -2.3%, Energy -2.7%, Financials -2.8%, Materials -2.9%, Industrials -3.4%, Consumer Discretionary -3.7%DJ30 -265.87 NASDAQ -75.37 SP500 -32.89 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 443/2.40 bln/2178 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 645/1.25 bln/2396