Investing.com - U.S. stocks closed lower Monday, as global economic slowdown worries depressed investor confidence, while investors continued to monitor developments in the euro zone.
At the close of U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.19%, the S&P 500 index retreated 0.35%, while the Nasdaq Composite index declined 0.76%.
Sentiment came under pressure after the World Bank cut its estimate for East Asian growth, including China.
Markets were also jittery ahead of the meeting in Luxemburg to launch the permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and as German Chancelor Angela Merkel was to make her first trip to Greece since July 2007 on Tuesday.
Merkel's visit coincides with deliberations among Greece's troika of international creditors - the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund - on whether the country will receive its next installment of aid.
Shares in Apple dropped 0.78% at the open, as Foxconn Technology Group, the assembler of iPhones had to stop production for the second time in two weeks after factory-line workers continued to protest against their working conditions. Shares in Apple were down 0.78% in pre-market trade.
Foxconn employs more than 1 million workers in China and has suffered in the past three years from suicides, riots and strikes.
Financial stocks were also on the downside, as U.S. lenders tracked their European counterparts lower. Shares in JP Morgan declined 0.86% and Bank of America dropped 0.64%, while Goldman Sachs and Citigroup declined 0.41% and 0.32% respectively.
In the auto sector, General Motors shed 0.89%, even after saying that it and its China joint ventures sold 244,266 vehicles in the country in September, up 1.7% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Yahoo added 0.30% amid reports investors are urging CEO Marissa Mayer to buy back shares rather than pay a dividend with the USD3 billion raised from selling a stake in Alibaba Group Holding.
Also in the Internet sector, Netflix jumped 7.87% after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the online movie streaming firm to "overweight" from "equalweight."
Elsewhere, electronic health-records company Allscripts Healthcare Solutions surged 4.88%, amid reports it received first-round bids for a leveraged buyout from private-equity firms including Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Silver Lake Management.
At the close of European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 plunged 1.39%, France’s CAC 40 slid 1.45%, while Germany’s DAX 30 tumbled 1.44.
Investors are awaiting the Bank of Japan’s monthly report and a talk by ECB President Mario Draghi on Tuesday.