Wall Street ends down for 3rd day

14/12/2011 - 22:13

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell for a third day and hit their lowest level in two weeks on Wednesday as widespread risk aversion sent commodity prices tumbling, drove the euro to its lowest in a year and forced Italy to pay a euro-era high to sell debt.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 131.39 points, or 1.10 percent, to end unofficially at 11,823.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 13.91 points, or 1.13 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,211.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 39.96 points, or 1.55 percent, to close unofficially at 2,539.31.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)