YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM] : A lack of leadership prompted participants to send the stock market lower in another thinly traded session.

Trading volume remains light ahead of the Dec. 25 holiday. Less than 1 billion shares were exchanged on the NYSE this session. That is the least volume in a full trading day since August.  

Stocks actually opened with broad-based gains, advancing as much as 1.0%. Those gains quickly turned into losses, though, as sellers entered the ring, focusing much of their effort on the financial sector.

Financials were up as much as 1.2%, but finished the session 1.9% lower as the worst performing economic sector. The sector's weakness was largely attributable to diversified financial players, which will still be facing formidable obstacles in 2009. Bank of America (BAC 12.76, -0.77) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 29.14, -0.68) traded as laggards, and also weighed on the Dow.

Goldman Sachs (GS 75.34, -1.66) and Morgan Stanley (MS 14.44, -0.14) also finished lower. Analysts at JPMorgan lowered their earnings estimates for Goldman, but raised their estimates for Morgan Stanley.

Concern continues to surround automakers. Standard & Poor's lowered the unsecured debt rating of General Motors (GM 3.01, -0.51) to C from CC, even though the government plans to provide GM with financing. Meanwhile, Moody's lowered Ford's (F 2.19, -0.40) credit rating to Caa3.

Economic data did little to entice buyers into the market. The latest batch of home sales remained weak. November new home sales declined 2.9% to an annualized rate of 407,000 units, which is the lowest level in 17 years. The consensus forecast called for new home sales of 415,000.

November existing home sales declined 8.6% to an annualized rate of 4.49 million units, which is worse than the already-depressed levels seen in recent months. The consensus called for 4.93 million sales.

Final third quarter GDP data came without major surprise. The economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.5%, which is unchanged from the prior reading. The personal consumption component was down 3.8%, while the core personal consumption component was up 2.4%. Economists expected the consumption levels to remain unchanged from the prior reading at -3.7% and +2.6%, respectively.

European exchanges closed with mixed results. Britain's FTSE finished 0.2% higher as its investors overcame news that the economy officially slipped 0.6% during the third quarter. British banks were key in the advance. Banks and financial companies in Germany helped limit weakness in the DAX, which fell 0.2%. France's CAC lagged, closing 0.7% lower.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index closed 2.8% lower in the wake of yesterday's loss warning from Toyota Motor (TM 60.36, -0.52). The fact China cut its benchmark rate by a less-than-expected 27 basis points to 5.31% also weighed on sentiment. The Hang Seng shed 2.8% as developers and banks showed weakness. Japan's markets were closed for holiday observance. DJ30 -100.82 NASDAQ -10.81 NQ100 -0.5% R2K -1.4% SP400 -0.9% SP500 -8.48 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 984/1.31 bln/1835 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1205/984 mln/1886