Market Wrap: Europe Enters Technical Recession; Fed's New Stress Test; Huge Buyback at the 'Bucks; Goldman's Promotion 'en masse'

Market wrap-up for November

End of the Day: S&P 500 down 2.2 to 1,353.33; Dow Jones down 28.6 to 12,642.38; Nasdaq down 9.9 to 2,836.94

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Germany's getting angry, you guys: Europe continues to be in a slump and there appears no immediate way out. According to new data from the European Commission's statistics agency, GDP in the third-quarter slid 0.1 percent from the second-quarter, marking the second-straight quarter of consolidation for the 17-member union and fourth quarter of no growth in the region.
  
  That puts the EU in a technical recession, which is expected to only worsen into the fourth quarter, economists say.
  
  France and Germany stemmed the drop, each posting expansion of 0.9 percent.
  
  
• Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), are you listening?: Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) approved a two-for-one split of both Nike Class A and Class B Common shares. According to the company, the stock split will be in the form of a 100 percent stock dividend payable on December 24, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business December 10, 2012. For more, click here.
  
  
• Their favorite song is "Under Pressure Stress": The Fed released standards for its next round of stress tests for large financial institutions today. Some of the highlights include supervisory baseline and adverse scenarios. Real GDP may fall 2 percent while unemployment is at 9.5 percent, or real GDP might pop 2.75 percent while unemployment oozes down to 6.75 percent.
  
  For more on the tests, click here.
  
  
• Selling goods isn't what it used to be: Wal-mart (NYSE: WMT) had a weak showing today along with broader markets, amid strong third-quarter earnings results from the retail giant. EPS came in at $1.08 on revs of $114.9 billion, versus consensus EPS views of $1.07 and revs of $113.9 billion. For more on the results and outlook, click here.
  
  
• Gap agrees: Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) also reported strong results and boosted guidance, though the outlook fell shy of views. EPS was 63 cents for Gap's third-quarter, in-line with the consensus. Fiscal 2012 EPS expectations of $2.20 to $2.25 compared with the consensus of $2.27.
  
  
• It's almost like a Jim Cramer show at Starbucks. Buy, buy, repurchase!: Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) is ticking higher in the late session Thursday following an announcement that it was adding 25 million shares to its common buyback authorization. For more color, BP) and the U.S. entered a settlement over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident. BP is said to pay $4.5 billion in the settlement, which includes $1.256 billion in criminal fines. For more color, click here.
  
  
• Blankfein's voice should be a little hoarse Friday: Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) announced more promotions today, bolstering its managing director slate by 266 new appointees. The number is up from 261 named last year and is in contrast to the lower number of partnerships offered this year, which came in at 70 versus the typical 100 to 110. For more, click here.

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