US stocks decline as eurozone concerns weigh

US stocks declined in early trade on Tuesday as renewed concerns about European sovereign debt crisis weighed on sentiment.

The S&P 500 Index declined 8.37 points, or 0.68 percent, to trade at 1,179.53 at 10:10 a.m. EDT. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 60.85 points, or 0.55 percent, to trade at 10,991.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 1.02 percent.

Investors continued to worry that the euro zone debt crisis could spread beyond Ireland to Portugal and Spain. After the financial markets gave thumbs down to the Irish bailout deal and the common currency slumped further, the focus is converging on the eurozone itself, rather than on the indebted individual members of the bloc.

On the economic front, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, which determines the economic health of the manufacturing sector in Chicago region, unexpectedly climbed to 62.50 in November from 60.60 in October and against analyst’s estimation of 59.80.

The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index rose at the slowest pace in 8 months in September. The index rose 0.6 percent in September compared to 1.7 percent in August and below economists' consensus forecast of 1 percent.

Among the Dow components, Boeing fell 1.04 percent and American Express fell 1.11 percent, while JP Morgan and HP declined more than1.6 percent.

Shares of Seagate Technology declined 3.97 percent after the company announced that it has terminated discussions with private equity (PE) firms regarding going private, as the two parties could not agree to a valuation range.

Google Inc. declined 3.14 percent as the European Commission has decided to probe the company after complaints by search service providers about unfavourable treatment of their services in Google's search results.

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) shares advanced 4.39 percent as Jefferies & Co. upgraded RIMM to 'buy' from 'hold' and increased its price target to $80 from $55.

The euro declined 0.85 percent to 1.3014 against the dollar and the yen gained 0.74 percent against the greenback.

Crude oil futures declined 0.50 percent to $85.30/barrel, while gold futures advanced 1.07 percent.

European stock markets are currently trading lower down with FTSE 100 down by 12.34 points, DAX30 own by 24.96 points and CAC 40 down by 31.85 points.