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U.S. stocks reversed early morning gains Monday as a result of a renewed selloff in oil prices on OPEC's announcement that it will not cut output even if prices fall as low as $40 a barrel.
At the closing bell in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled down 101 points at 17180 while the Nasdaq lost 49 points to end at 4605 and the S&P 500 dropped 12 points to finish at 1990.
Earlier the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates Suhail Al-Mazrouei said that OPEC would refrain from curbing output even if prices fell as low as $40 per barrel and would only consider convening an extraordinary meeting in three months.
The Dow tumbled over 300 points on Friday on the oil price collapse ending its worst week of 2014 and its biggest weekly percentage drop since November 2011.
U.S. stocks started Monday with gains as oil prices attempted a rebound on news of the closure of two Libyan oil terminals but early gains faded. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery declined 3.3% to $55.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange the lowest settlement since May 2009.
U.S. economic news
On the economic front this week is a big one in terms of data with the main event being the Federal Open Market Committee meeting and news conference on Wednesday.
Today the Empire State Index for December the first of many regional manufacturing gauges to be released fell to negative 3.6 in December from 10.2 in November surprising analysts.
This is the first negative reading since January 2013 with economists having had expected the index to inch higher to a 12.0 reading.
Following this industrial production rose a better-than-expected 1.3% in November according to data released by the Federal Reserve thanks to strong consumer goods and utilities output.
Meanwhile the National Association of Home Builders index for December ticked down one point to 57.
Wall Street round-up
In corporate activity PetSmart (NASDAQ:PETM) has agreed to be sold to a BC Partners-led group for $8.7 billion in the largest private equity buyout of 2014.
The consortium is paying $83 a share nearly 7% higher than the company's closing price on Friday and about 39% higher than its closing price on July 2 the day before activist investor Jana Partners disclosed itself as a major shareholder. Shares of PetSmart gained 4.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) said it is acquiring Charter Brokerage under undisclosed terms.
Shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) dropped to the lowest level in over a month after Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache raised concerns about the company's rising regulatory costs and competition from electric cars. Shares settled down 4.7%.
Sony Pictures has reportedly cancelled the production of several films due to the cyber attack that has left it unable to process payments. Over the weekend hackers released a seventh cache of files from the studio and said people can expect a "Christmas gift" that would put the company into the worst state.
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