Stocks closed with broad losses Monday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest close in more than a month, as investors focused on a mounting fiscal crisis in Italy, Greece and Spain.
The Dow lost 131 points, or 1.1 percent, to 12,381, with a 2.3 percent drop in Caterpillar shares leading declines in all but one of its components.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 16 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,317. A 1.5 percent drop in the tech sub-sector led declines in all 10 industry groups.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 44 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,759.
In the absence of major US earnings reports or economic data, investors focused on negative headlines from Europe, including a Standard & Poor’s outlook cut on Italian debt and regional-election losses for Spain’s ruling Socialist party.
“The eurozone nations are walking a fine line,” said Malcolm Polley, president and chief investment officer at Stewart Capital Advisors.
Too much austerity could choke off spending and weaken the Continent’s economic recovery, he said, even as markets around the world, including in the US, demand that the region gets its debt burden under control.
Monday’s selloff reflected the same investor risk aversion that drove a slump in crude-oil prices below $98 a barrel and a rally in the US dollar versus major foreign currencies.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 have slid for three consecutive weeks, marking their longest losing streak since August.
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