4 Reasons Stocks are Sinking

Still licking your wounds from last week? Of course you are! Sorry to tell you that after recouping last week's losses through Monday's close, stocks are headed south again today. Here are the four reasons that markets continue to slide:

• Worries over a global economic slowdown: the most recent example came this morning when it was reported that German and Eurozone growth slowed to a crawl in Q2
• Spread of the European debt crisis to Italy and Spain: Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy (aka Mommy and Daddy of the EU) are meeting today to discuss the continuing crisis.
• Inept politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, who compounded problems 1 and 2
• Computer-driven trading, which now accounts for over 70 percent of daily market volume, accelerated the action. Most of these managers go to cash overnight, which can lead to big moves in the last hour of trading.

More on MoneyWatch:

• How to Survive a Manic Market
• Markets Plunge: Volatility Rules
• 9 Steps to Investor Sanity

Jill Schlesinger

Jill Schlesinger, CFP® is the Emmy-nominated business analyst for CBS News. She covers the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign on TV, radio (including her nationally syndicated radio show), the web and her blog, "Jill on Money." Prior to her second career at CBS, Jill spent 14 years as the co-owner and chief investment officer for an independent investment advisory firm. She began her career as a self-employed options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York, following her graduation from Brown University.

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