US stocks fall as European gloom returns
Topics: From the Wires, News
A reminder of Europe’s crippled economy tugged U.S. stocks broadly lower Monday.
An index of business confidence in Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, fell for a fifth straight month. Many economists had expected it to at least remain flat. Some economists think Germany is headed for a recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 41 points to 13,538 in the first half-hour of trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index declined 5 to 1,455. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 18 to 3,161.
The threat of the years-old European debt crisis has seemed less immediate in recent weeks. Traders have been cheered central banks’ new measures aimed at boosting the global economy.
As in the U.S., the concern in Germany is that an economy on the rebound will be weighed down by the rest of the European countries, half of which are already in recession.
Germany’s economy grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter, but a number of economists now believe the country will fall into a recession in the second half of the year.
In the U.S., traders will be looking for more good news from the housing market, which appears to be bouncing back after being a stuck in a rut for years. The latest data on new and pending home sales is released later in the week.
Lennar on Monday became the latest builder to post surprisingly strong earnings. A rise in orders and the number of homes delivered, adding to a big tax benefit, had the Miami homebuilder quadrupling profits. KB Home on Friday did almost as well, and housing shares jumped on optimistic comments from its CEO, Stuart Miller.
Lennar fell 24 cents to $37.27. KB Home fell 26 cents to $15.00.
More Related Stories
-
DHS admits "impossible" to control 3D-printed guns
-
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship
-
Journalists file suit against Manning trial secrecy
-
Russia: Syrian regime ready to talk peace
-
Report: Nearly a quarter of all Americans struggle to afford food
-
Ted Cruz against the world
-
Louie Gohmert: Women should be forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term
-
2 men arrested for endangering commercial aircraft
-
Oversized load blamed for bridge collapse
-
This is what Guy Fieri looks like as a balloon
-
Iran hackers aiming at U.S. energy firms
-
Lawyers release data in attempt to discredit Trayvon Martin
-
Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
-
Bridge collapse: Part of "aging infrastructure"
-
Mistrial in penalty phase of Arias case
-
Amanda Bynes arrested after hurling bong from window
-
Interstate 5 bridge collapses north of Seattle
-
Mississippi could begin prosecuting women for miscarriages
-
Teenage girl claims she was beaten up for looking like Taylor Swift
-
UK Military: London attack victim was a "model soldier"
-
Billionaire hedge funder: Babies, breast-feeding "kill" focus, keep women from succeeding
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
Most Read
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
-
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid "totally different" from Sandy aid
-
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate -- or lose kids
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
-
Inhofe and Coburn: Red state hypocrites
-
Facebook's hate speech problem
-
Brad Pitt keeps breaking his silence on how boring marriage to Jennifer Aniston was
-
Graphic video reportedly shows possible London machete attack suspect
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com
22 points23 points24 points | 6 comments
17 points18 points19 points | 26 comments
Comments
0 Comments