Monday

Stocks suffered substantial losses today after Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on the U.S. government. The ratings firm cut its outlook on U.S. government debt from "stable" to "negative" and warned that the U.S. fiscal profile may become "meaningfully weaker" than that of other triple-A-rated countries if policy makers can't tame the budget deficit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%, led by Bank of America and Caterpillar, which each fell 3.1%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 1.1% as well, with energy and industrials taking the hardest hit. At session lows, both measures staged their biggest drop in a month. DJIA -140.24 Nasdaq -29.27 S&P 500 -14.54.