YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Debt and macro concerns continue to underpin pessimism among market participants, prompting many to pare risk. As such, the broad market logged its fourth straight loss.

Sentiment among early traders turned sour with the release of the second estimate of third quarter GDP, which expanded at a clip of just 2.0%. In general, economists had thought that the headline number would go unrevised at a 2.5% growth rate. The downward revision made it less surprising to learn from the latest FOMC minutes that some Committee members believe that the outlook should be eased further.

Uncertainty about the progress of eurozone bailout plans also continues to hang over financial markets. However, headlines that the IMF has established a new liquidity line helped stocks extend a rebound that began when stocks successfully held their ground at the prior session's low, which also marked a monthly low.

Even though the rebound effort took the major equity averages into positive territory, their stay there was brief. The eventual evaporation of buying interest left stocks to drift lower into the close, culminating in another down day for the major averages. Including an incremental loss late last week, the S&P 500 has finished lower in four straight sessions for a cumulative loss of more than 5%.

Aside from a modest pullback in late morning trade, precious metals remained strong throughout the session. Gold ended higher by 1.4% at $1702.40 per ounce, while silver posted gains of 5.1% to close at $32.81. Both metals traded to their best levels, at $1706.40 and $33.04, respectively, into the close of pit trade.

Crude oil prices pulled back to the flat line in mid-morning trade, pressured by weakness in equities. Their about-face followed headlines about enhanced IMF Liquidity and Emergency Lending Windows. They did attempt to rebound, but the move stalled around the $98.50 mark, leaving prices to drift lower and close at $98.01 per barrel. Still, that made for a 1.1% gain. Natural gas prices settled higher by 0.5% at $3.42 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Health Care +0.2%, Consumer Staples +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Consumer Discretionary -0.1%, Tech -0.2%, Telecom -0.4%, Industrials -0.8%, Materials -0.8%, Financials -0.9%, Energy -1.0%, Utilities -1.3%DJ30 -53.59 NASDAQ -1.86 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.8% SP400 -0.6% SP500 -4.94 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 896/1.79 bln/1595 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1160/876 mln/1862