Stocks Plunge on Consumer Spending Fears

The stock market ended the month of October on a big down note Friday, as a drop in consumer spending and worries about financial stocks sent the market plunging.

The big decline eclipsed the previous day’s gains on the first rise in GDP in a year, as the biggest drop in consumer spending in nine months and concern about the commercial real estate market fueled worries about the prospects for economic recovery amid persistently high unemployment.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), Novatel (NASDAQ: NVTL), Tessera (NASDAQ: TSRA) and Openwave (NASDAQ: OPWV) were some of the day’s biggest decliners.

KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC), McAfee (NYSE: MFE), RealNetworks (NASDAQ: RNWK) and Maxim (NASDAQ: MXIM) lost ground on their earnings reports.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) managed to buck the downtrend, soaring 19 percent on its results.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) — which will report its quarterly results next Wednesday — slipped 3 percent amid a Bloomberg report that the company could drop its bid to acquire Tandberg of Norway under pressure from investors.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) lost 4 percent each.

The Nasdaq lost 52 to 2045, the S&P 500 tumbled 30 to 1036, and the Dow plunged 250 to 9712. Volume rose to 6.51 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.69 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a 32-5 margin on the NYSE, and 21-5 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 95 percent on the NYSE, and 91 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 59-45 on the NYSE, and 26-41 on the Nasdaq.