(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) U.S. stocks fell on Cyber Monday as weak Thanksgiving sales worries about oil and weak economic data from China as well as a downgrade of Japan's credit rating by Moody's put investors in a sour mood.
At the closing bell in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 48 points to close at 17780 while the Nasdaq shed 65 points to end at 4727 and the S&P 500 lost 15 points to finish at 2053.
In the U.S. retail spending over this year's four day Thanksgiving weekend fell 11% to $50.9 billion according to the National Retail Federation.
The decline the second annual drop in a row comes as retailers offered their deals days or even weeks before the holiday weekend and as shoppers increasingly make their purchases online. Shares of Wal-Mart () fell 1.5% while shares of J.C. Penney () tumbled 6% and () crumbled 5.4%.
Even Cyber Monday sales were tepid. As of 3 pm New York time online sales today rose 8.7% above year-earlier levels less than half of the 18.7% growth recorded on the same day last year according to Digital Analytics Benchmark.
Energy companies were also feeling the pressure following OPEC's decision last week as analysts are cutting their forecasts for oil prices with some predicting prices could plunge another 40% to around $40 a barrel. Light sweet crude for January delivery rebounded 4.3% to end at $69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was oil’s largest percentage gain since August 2012 halting a four-session losing streak.
Meanwhile in China official PMI dipped to an eight month low of 50.3 in November closer to the 50 point mark that separates growth from contraction.
Moody's Investors Services also downgraded Japan's sovereign debt rating by one notch to A1 from Aa3 citing increased uncertainty over achieving its debt reduction goals and the effectiveness of its growth bolstering efforts.
There were also fresh clashes in Hong Kong today as thousands of pro-democracy protestors forced the temporary closure of the Hong Kong government headquarters. Markets in Hong Kong and China ended lower on Monday with the Hang Seng Index falling 2.6%.
On the economic front in the US there will be a steady amount of economic numbers this week leading up to Friday's November jobs report. This morning it was reported the ISM manufacturing index for November fell to 58.7 down from 59 in October still extremely strong and well beyond other reports. Economists were expecting a reading of 57.8.
In corporate activity Amazon () said Black Friday sales of Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets on its website grew three times higher for the tablets and four times higher on the e-reader but shares tumbled 3.6% after it said it was cutting the price of its Fire TV box Monday afternoon to $69 from $99 in a one-day push to drive sales of the device.
DreamWorks Animation () fell 5.6% after it announced that its latest animated film “Penguins of Madagascar” performed below industry expectations.
Pozen () tumbled 14% after the company said it would terminate its partnership to produce specialty drugs with Sanofi.
(NYSE:GSK) is reportedly expected to announce hundreds of job cuts in the US this week as part of a restructuring according to a report in Bloomberg.
() added 5.7% after announcing a $1 billion share buyback program.
European stocks fell Monday to close in the red after shares of natural resource producers dropped following the soft economic data from China. Investors also considered data showing further slowing in manufacturing activity in the eurozone.
Gold rebounded today as the Japan downgrade sparked safe haven demand for the yellow metal. The contract for February delivery climbed 3.6% to settle at $1218.10 an ounce.
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