YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: More than 95% of the names in the S&P 500 logged losses today. Their weakness was underpinned by renewed concerns about a rate hike in China, the state of finances in Ireland, and Greece's ability to tighten its fiscal practices.

Stocks opened trade in the red as the prior session's late slide extended into premarket trade with help from a 4% plunge by China's Shanghai Composite. Selling there was stoked by speculation that a rate hike may be in the offing since Korea raised its target rate. Many are fearful that tighter monetary policy in China would not only soften demand in the country, but also stymie global growth.

Also in the backdrop was worry about the financial health of Ireland and its banks. The country's prime minister stated in a CNBC report that the country's banks are meeting European Central Bank funding requirements and that the country has not had to ask for aid.

The tone of trade further weakened with word that Austria has opted to withhold bailout funds for Greece because it may miss its deficit reduction target.

The dollar was helped by that headline. Buying in the currency was strong enough to take the greenback more than 1% higher to its best level since September before it eased back to end the trading day with a gain of about 0.9%. However, the greenback's gain only exacerbated weakness among stocks.

Selling was so sharp that the S&P 500 was pushed through initial support levels to the 1173 line, which was last touched in October. Even though it finished off of its low, the S&P 500 still suffered its worst single-session percentage loss since August.

The Dow had dropped more than 200 points to violate the 11,000 line before it attempted to pare its loss. Among its 30-members, only WalMart (WMT 54.26, +0.31) and Home Depot (HD 31.71, +0.32) booked gains. Home Depot satisfied investors with an upside earnings surprise and a strong outlook.

WalMart's latest quarter was not too inspiring, but the company did issue a strong forecast. Strength in the pair, along with solid results from a handful of smaller retailers, helped limit losses among retailers to 0.6%, collectively.

In addition to stocks, traders also cut down commodities. That left the CRB Commodity Index to lose 3.2% after it lost 3.6% this past Friday. The CRB is now down 7.6% from the two-year high that it set last week.

Treasuries attracted support after they fell under a concerted midday selling effort. Their slide coincided with the dollar's initial bounce. In the end, though, the benchmark 10-year Note gained a full point to take its yield down to 2.84% after it hit 2.9%, its highest level since August, in the prior session. The 30-year Bond pushed up more than two points so that its yield slid to 4.27% after it was at a six-month high of about 4.42% just yesterday.

Data for today did nothing to offer support to stocks. The October Producer Price Index increased 0.4%, which is more tepid than the 0.8% increase that had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com. Core prices actually fell 0.6%, which contrasts with the consensus call for a 0.1% increase.

Additionally, industrial production was unchanged in October. It had been expected to increase 0.3% after a 0.2% decline in the prior month. Capacity utilization remained steady at 74.8%, as generally expected.

Commodities were clipped for deep losses today. That left the CRB Commodity Index to lose 3.2%. That makes for its fourth loss in five sessions and its second loss of more than 3% in that time. That streak of weakness has the CRB down 7.6% from the two-year high that it set last week.

A resurgent dollar had a hand in undercutting commodities. The greenback was last quoted with a 0.9% gain. Concerns about the financial health of Ireland and Greece acted as the primary catalyst for the greenback's gain. Of course, concerns about slower global growth resulting from the possibility of tighter monetary policy in China didn't help.

Grains collectively endured some of the worst losses by falling 5.5%. Wheat contracts for March fell 6.3% to settle at $6.68 per bushel.

As for precious metals, gold prices dropped 2.3% to $1332.00 per ounce while silver shed 2.7% to settle at $25.23 per ounce. Gold's session low of $1329.00 per ounce marked its lowest level in two weeks. Silver's session low of $24.98 per ounce made for its worst levels in about the same time. Copper prices plummeted 5.1% to $3.73 per pound. Its session low of just under $3.69 per pound represented its lowest level since October 8. As an aside, the CME's new margin requirements in gold and silver went into effect at the close of pit trade.

Among energy contracts, December crude oil prices settled lower by 2.9% at $82.34 per barrel. It traded to its lowest levels of the month, at $82.26 per barrel, in afternoon trade. December natural gas prices fell a relatively more modest 0.7% to settle at $3.82 per MMBtu.

Headlines of the day brought plenty of participants into the fold. In turn, trading volume on the NYSE totaled more than 1.3 billion shares. That is far more than the paltry tally of 880 million shares that exchanged hands on the Big Board in the prior session.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-2.2%), Energy (-2.1%), Tech (-1.9%), Financials (-1.8%), Telecom (-1.6%), Industrials (-1.6%), Health Care (-1.3%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.3%), Utilities (-1.2%), Consumer Staples (-1.1%)DJ30 -178.47 NASDAQ -43.98 NQ100 -1.8% R2K -2.0% SP400 -1.8% SP500 -19.41 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 548/2.25 bln/2103 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 405/1.35 bln/2642