* Worries about European debt hurt bank shares
* Upgrades boost semis, lift Nasdaq
* Dow off 0.2 pct, S&P off 0.2 pct, Nasdaq up 0.6 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates to close, changes byline)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Bank shares weighed on stocks
on Monday as Europe's smoldering debt crisis and fears of an
insider trading probe in the United States sapped buying
interest for most of the session.
The Nasdaq fared better than the Dow and the S&P 500 after
upgrades to chipmaker SanDisk Corp <SNDK.O> and chip-gear
makers Amkor Technology Inc <AMKR.O> and Teradyne Inc <TER.N>.
For details see [] and [].
Risk aversion kicked in as stocks followed the euro's fall
against the U.S. dollar after turmoil in Ireland's fragile
coalition government overshadowed an agreed-on bailout of the
country.
Investors fear the crisis will spread throughout Europe,
raising the specter of losses by exposed U.S. banks. The KBW
bank index <.BKX> lost 1.5 percent and Dow component JPMorgan
Chase & Co <JPM.N> fell 2.3 percent to $38.51.
"All the continued concerns coming out of Europe and the
debt situation there is what got us started on the way down
today," said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. equity
trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore.
Worry about a broad insider trading probe in the United
States hit shares of large brokerages and Goldman Sachs Group
<GS.N> fell 3.4 percent to $161.05. [].
"The situation on insider trading put some more fuel on
the fire for short-term trading in the afternoon," said
Schrader, who added the concerns were "probably a gross
over-reaction" to the insider trading probe.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> fell 24.97 points,
or 0.22 percent, to 11,178.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> dipped 1.89 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,197.84. But
the Nasdaq Composite Index <> gained 13.90 points, or
0.55 percent, to 2,532.02.
Ireland's unpopular coalition government began to crumble
a day after agreeing on an European Union/International
Monetary Fund bailout, casting doubt on its ability to push
through an austerity budget crucial to receiving assistance.
U.S.-listed shares of Bank of Ireland <BKIR.I><IRE.N>
tumbled 16.9 percent to $2.22, and those of Allied Irish Banks
Plc <ALBK.I><AIB.N> lost 9.8 percent to $1.11. Both have lost
nearly half their market value since Aug. 1.
The S&P energy index <.GSPE> bounced from a more than 2.2
percent decline to close down 0.4 percent after U.S. light
crude futures <CLc1> capped losses, trading at $81.72 per
barrel after earlier falling below $81.
Chipmaker SanDisk gained 6.5 percent to $42.57 after
Robert W. Baird upgraded the stock to "outperform" from
"neutral," while Amkor jumped 6 percent to $6.86 and Teradyne
added 5.7 percent to $12.53 after Citigroup raised its rating
on both shares.
The PHLX Semiconductor Index <.SOX> added 1.1 percent to
close at 391.33.
Leadership from semiconductors may find a near-term hurdle
as the SOX index approaches the 395 area, a six-month high hit
earlier this month. The index's 2010 high, near 405, was hit
in late April.
With relative momentum and strength readings near
overbought levels, a pullback in the sector is in the charts.
However, the uptrend that has seen the SOX rise more than 28
percent from a low hit late August is still in place.
Also boosting the Nasdaq, Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> jumped 8.8
percent to $188.32 after it said it will offer an unlimited
streaming-only subscription plan in the United States and it
raised prices in some of its plans. [].
About 7.04 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, below
the year-to-date average of 8.69 billion.
Advancing stocks slightly outnumbered declining ones on
the NYSE by 1,520 to 1,453, while on the Nasdaq, 1,336 stocks
rose and 1,303 fell.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)
