5/21/2009 4:15:00 PM ET DJ30 PointChange: -129.91 Level: 8292.13 NASDAQ PointChange: -32.59 Level: 1695.25 NQ100 PercentChange: -1.9 R2K PercentChange: -1.7 SP400 PercentChange: -1.8 SP500 PointChange: -15.14 Level: 888.33 NASDAQ-Adv:779 Dec: 1912 NYSE-Adv:808 Dec: 2214

[BRIEFING.COM] Emboldened by economic concerns, sellers took control of stocks and handed the major indices a marked loss. Though declines were deep and broad, stocks still finished off of their session lows.

A sharp pullback by the U.S. dollar helped gold prices close 1.5% higher at $951.20 per ounce and oil prices pare their losses to settle pit trading with a 1.6% loss at $61.02 per barrel. The greenback's 0.8% slide took the dollar index to a four-month low and came as global investors showed concern about the U.S. economic outlook in the wake of Standard & Poor's decision to lower its outlook for the United Kingdom. Just yesterday the Fed lowered its outlook for U.S. economic growth.

Worse-than-expected jobless claims supported the premise that economic conditions remain tenuous. Initial claims for the week ending May 16 totaled 631,000, while continuing claims climbed to a new record of 6.66 million.

Treasuries took a pounding amid the economic concerns. The benchmark 10-year Note fell 43 ticks, which pushed its yield near 2009 highs. Disappointing buybacks by the Fed also provided a catalyst for the downward move by Treasuries; investors have expected that the Fed will be expanding the size of such repurchases.

Participants largely dismissed a 1.0% increase in leading economic indicators for April even though the data was better than expected and marked the first increase in ten months.

Financials (+0.2%) attempted to provide support to the broader market. They oscillated between positive and negative ground before finishing as the only sector to log a gain. Regional banks (-4.5%) were a heavy drag on the financial sector as Fifth Third (FITB 6.95, -0.76) became the latest bank to come to market looking to raise capital in the wake of the government's stress tests. Fifth Third filed a $750 million common stock offering. Meanwhile, Regions Financial (RF 4.15, -0.74) disappointed investors by pricing its previously announced offering markedly below recent averages.

Losses were broad-based for the entire session. In the end, roughly 85% of the companies listed in the S&P 500 closed in the red. The S&P 500 did find some technical support as it encountered last week's lows.