Stocks end lower: Nasdaq off more than 1%
Wall Street took a sharp hit Monday as tech stocks plunged and Alibaba (BABA) fell more than 4% on its second day of trading after a blockbuster start on Friday.
Investor concerns of a slowing Chinese economy also weighed on global stocks as oil prices dropped.
The Dow Jones industrial average retreated from its record close Friday and ended down 107.06 points, dropping 0.6% to 17,172.68.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell back below 2000, dropping 16.11 points, or 0.8% to 1994.29. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index plunged 52.10 points, or 1.1% to 4527.69.
The benchmark U.S. oil contract for October delivery fell 95 cents, or 1%, to $91.46 a barrel. Energy stocks fell 1.2% putting them among the biggest decliners in the 10 industry groups that make up the S&P 500 index.
In corporate news:
• Germany’s Merck is buying chemical firm Sigma Aldrich (SIAL) for $17 billion. Shares of St.Louis-based Sigma Aldrich jumped 33% to $134.40.
• Shares of Dresser Rand (DRC) rose 2.6% to $81.97 after Germany’s Siemens agreed to buy the oilfield equipment maker for $7.6 billion.
Asian markets fell ahead of a closely watched gauge of Chinese manufacturing. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.7% to 16,205.90 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.4% to 23,955.49.
European markets also fell as Britain’s FTSE fell 0.7% to 6773.63 and Germany’s DAX index dropped 0.5% to 9749.54.
On Friday, the Dow closed at a record high as the blue-chip index rose 13.75 points, 0.1%, to 17,279.74. The S&P 500 dropped 1 point, 0.1%, to finish at 2010.40 and the Nasdaq fell 13.64 points, 0.3%, to close at 4579.79.
Source: Usatoday- Stocks
