S&P 500 Falls for Third Straight Session on Syria Airstrikes, Weak European Data

Stock Market Today, Sept. 23, 2014: The S&P 500 fell for a third session in a row and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 116 points as U.S. airstrikes on Syria and continuing economic problems in the European Union and China rattled global markets. U.S. President Barack Obama said that the U.S. military will continue its airstrikes against ISIS fighters, raising new concerns in the international community.

Today's downturn in U.S. markets followed a slide in European markets, which struggled on news of weakening business activity in France and decline in German manufacturing activity this month.

Gold prices took a turn today, finally rebounding from a streak of nine-month lows in recent trading sessions on these key factors.

Here's the scorecard from today's trading session:

Dow: 17,055.87, -116.81 (-0.68%)
Nasdaq: 4,508.69, -19.00 (-0.42%)
S&P 500: 1,982.77, -11.52 (-0.58%)

Now, here are more top stories from the stock market today:

• Inversion Aversion: Following the announcement that the U.S. Treasury Department was enacting a number of rules to prevent inversions by American companies to reduce their tax burdens, shares of AbbVie Inc. (Nasdaq: ABBV) slipped more than 2% in afternoon trading. The new rules threaten AbbVie's deal with Shire Plc (Nasdaq ADR: SHPG). Shares of drug maker AstraZeneca Plc. (NYSE ADR: AZN), which was also targeted for acquisition, slipped by more than 4.5%, while shares of Shire were down more than 2%. A number of other pharmaceutical companies were also on the decline, including Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Covidien Plc. (NYSE: COV), and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT).

• The Big Break Up: International conglomerate Koninklijke Philips NV (NYSE ADR: PHG) announced plans to split into two distinct companies. As the company begins to overhaul its operations, the Phillips brand will remain as a stand-alone lighting business. Meanwhile, Philips will merge its healthcare and consumer-lifestyle products division into one company that will be called HealthTech. Shares of Philips were up more than 3.5% on the day.