(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)
At the closing bell in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled down 95 points at 17729 while the Nasdaq fell 18 points to close at 4726 and the S&P 500 lost 8 points to finish at 2047. US stocks closed lower on Friday but both the Dow and the S&P 500 surged last week.
In Europe Greek stocks were hammered after leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras vowed Sunday to roll back austerity measures stressing that his country would not be asking for an extension to its current bailout.
The country has until 16th February 2015 to make the request.
S&P cut Greece's sovereign debt rating to B- from B on Friday while Moody's placed its Caa1 rating on review for downgrade. European markets followed Greek stocks broadly lower with shares in Germany closing down 1.7%.
Asian stocks also mostly closed in the red after Chinese data published yesterday showed the country's exports slipping 3.3% from year-ago levels while imports plunged by 19.9% the sharpest slide since May 2009.
Exports have not produced a negative annual reading since March 2014.
The data highlights further weakness in the Chinese economy with the Shanghai Composite settling 1.3% lower on Monday.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate for March delivery rose 2.3% to settle at US$52.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold for April delivery increased 0.6% to settle at US$1241.50 an ounce on Comex.
Wall Street round-up
In corporate activity McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) reported January global same store sales fell by 1.8% hurt by a slump in the Asia/Pacific Middle East and Africa region. Meanwhile in the US same store sales rose 0.4% on positive performance in its breakfast category. Shares fell 1.4%.
Toymaker Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) shares rose more than 7% after reporting higher fourth quarter earnings and raising its dividend. It also said it would buy back up to $500 million in stock.
Loews (NYSE:L) said its income from continuing operations fell 13% in the fourth quarter as investment income declined but the company's earnings topped expectations with shares closing up 1.2% Monday.
In other news Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) has been ordered to pay $17 million in damages after a judge ruled the security software maker had infringed two patents held by Intellectual Ventures.
Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) is reportedly investigating a potential sale with Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) Honeywell (NYSE:HON) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) seen as potential buyers according to a Bloomberg report.
HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HSBC) has admitted to the failings of its Swiss subsidiary which helped customers avoid taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets. The bank said the Swiss arm was not fully integrated into its corporation after the purchase in 1999 allowing for "significantly lower" standards of compliance and due diligence.
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) price target was raised by analysts at Canaccord on Monday to $145 from $135 previously with them citing strong smartphone demand during the fourth quarter that should help drive long term unit sales. Shares of the iPhone maker edged up 0.7%.
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) shares slid over 6.4% after Wunderlich Securities cut the stock's price target to $17 from $30.
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