Stocks and Bonds: Euro Troubles and Report on Slowing U.S. Economy Drag Down Shares

Stocks fell sharply in morning trading but rebounded after the International Monetary Fund said it would extend new short-term lines of credit to developed countries.

Traders were also reacting to a Spanish debt auction that sharply raised the country’s borrowing costs.

“It doesn’t look like the euro zone problems are going away and now we’ve had confirmation that the U.S. economy is slowing,” said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels. “I think this makes for a very difficult market.”

The Commerce Department in Washington said Tuesday that the nation’s gross domestic product grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, down from the 2.5 percent it had said previously.

Then, at midday, the I.M.F. said it had introduced a six-month liquidity line, throwing help to countries at risk from the euro zone crisis, and the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index reversed earlier losses.

The index ended the day down just 4.94 points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,188.04; on Monday, it lost 1.86 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 53.59 points, or 0.46 percent, to 11,493.72. The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.86 points, or 0.07 percent. to 2,521.28.

In Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index closed off 1.09 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London declined 0.3 percent.

Unless the European Central Bank has a change of heart and begins a major round of quantitative easing, or buying government bonds in large quantities to increase the money supply, Mr. Gijsels said he saw little reason for optimism.

Euro zone bonds reflected continuing stress. Spain’s 10-year bonds were at 6.55 percent, up 8 basis points, while Italy’s 10-year bonds were up to 6.79 percent. French 10-year bonds were at 3.55 percent, up 10 basis points. Germany’s 10-year notes were flat at 1.91 percent.

In the United States, the Treasury’s benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 13/32, to 100 23/32, and its yield fell to 1.92 percent from 1.97 percent late Monday. The new Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which takes office next month, found Tuesday that there would be no market honeymoon after Spain had to pay more to sell short-term debt.

Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party won a resounding 186 seats and a governing majority on Sunday in Spain’s 350-seat lower house of Parliament. It promised to turn around an economy whose jobless rate is over 20 percent.

But the Spanish Treasury on Tuesday sold three-month bills priced to yield 5.11 percent — more than double the 2.29 percent it paid to sell similar securities on Oct. 25. It also sold six-month debt at 5.23 percent, up from 3.30 percent in October.

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