Watch CBS News

Health care and bank stocks pull indexes lower

Latest MoneyWatch headlines
WTO says global trade is gearing down, and other MoneyWatch headlines 01:06

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks are slumping in Monday morning trading as health care companies and banks take the biggest losses. Energy companies are inching higher as oil prices rise. Major indexes in Europe and Asia are also starting the week on a steep skid.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 147 points, or 0.8 percent, to 18,114 as of 11:35 a.m. ET. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 15 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,150. The Nasdaq composite dropped 42 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,263.

Pfizer, one of the largest drug companies in the world, traded lower after it said it will not split up into two smaller companies. The company, which makes Viagra and the pain drug Lyrica, among many others, had been considering the move for several years and said it might speed up growth for some of its businesses. Pfizer tried and failed to complete two $100 billion-plus mergers recently but agreed to buy cancer drug maker Medivation for about $14 billion in August. Its stock fell 57 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $33.69.

Other drugmakers also slipped. Merck fell 91 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $62.05 and Bristol-Myers Squibb slid 83 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $55.65.

JPMorgan Chase gave up 72 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $66.53 and Citigroup shed 74 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $46.41 to lead financial stocks lower. Interest rates headed lower as bond prices rose and yields fell. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.60 percent from 1.62 percent.

Specialty chemicals maker Chemtura climbed after it agreed to be bought by Germany’s Lanxess. Lanxess is paying $33.50 per share for Chemtura, a 19-percent premium, and the companies valued the deal at $2.5 billion. Chemtura stock gained $4.34, or 15.4 percent, to $32.52.

CBOE Holdings, the parent company of the Chicago Board of Exchange, will buy Bats Global Markets. The companies valued the deal at $3.2 billion, or $32.50 in cash and stock per share of Bats. Bats stock jumped 20 percent Friday as investors hoped that a deal was imminent, and it fell 69 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $31.11 Monday morning. CBOE stock lost $2.14, or 3 percent, to $68.16.

Oil prices bounced higher as investors monitor a meeting of oil producers in Algiers over the coming days. Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1, or 2.2 percent, to $45.48 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose $1.04, for 2.2 percent, to $47.52 a barrel in London. Oil exploration companies rose the most. Transocean 30 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $9.40 and Noble Energy added 80 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $33.82.

The dollar slid to 100.45 yen from 101.09 yen. The euro rose to $1.1251 from $1.1231.

The DAX in Germany dropped 2 percent and France’s CAC 40 fell 1.7 percent. In Britain, the FTSE 100 was down 1.3 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged down 1.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.3 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.7 percent.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.