Dow loses nearly 680 points; manufacturing activity at 26-year low

December 1, 3:27 PMBusiness ExaminerDarrell Proctor

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Wall Street started December with a sell-off.

The good mood that prevailed on Wall Street last week quickly vanished in the first day of trading after the long holiday weekend.

Despite reports of strong sales on Black Friday, investors remain cautious about holiday shopping numbers, and they sent the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 680 points.

More than half of last week's gains - which totaled 1,276 points - were wiped out. The Dow and the Nasdaq each dropped more than 7 percent, and the S&P 500 was off nearly 9 percent.

Preliminary figures from research firm RCT ShopperTrak - numbers taken from more than 50,000 retail stores - showed that Black Friday sales were up 3 percent from last year, to $10.6 billion.

But the rest of the weekend wasn't as great. ShopperTrak said sales over the weekend were up just 1.9 percent.

Investors also were concerned about two economic reports released today. A trade group of purchasing execs, the Institute for Supply Management, said its index of manufacturing activity was at a 26-year low in November. And the Commerce Department said construction spending was down more than expected in October.