Stocks falter as growth worries persist

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were under pressure Monday as worries about slowing growth kept investors sidelined.

The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq fell between 0.3% and 0.9%.

Early Monday, the World Bank lowered its outlook for economic growth in Asia, down from the 7.6% estimate it made in May to 7.2%. It also warned that worsening conditions in Europe could knock off 2% from Asia's GDP growth next year.

Investors are also becoming increasingly worried about a potentially disappointing earnings season, which unofficially kicks off Tuesday when Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) announces its results after the closing bell.

Analysts expect earnings to decline 1.34%, according to S&P Capital IQ. That would mark the lowest growth rate since the third quarter of 2009.

Overall, traders expect Monday to be a quiet trading day, especially with the U.S. bond market closed for Columbus Day.

Asian markets ended lower. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 0.9%. Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.

Related: China's epic traffic nightmares

In Europe, Germany received a surprisingly positive report Monday showing exports in August increased 5.8% over the previous year.

But those numbers weren't enough to combat the grim outlook issued by the World Bank. All three European indexes closed lower. Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.5%, while the DAX in Germany dropped 1.4% and France's CAC 40 fell 1.3%.

U.S. stocks ended mixed Friday but closed the week up roughly 1%.

Related: The stock market rally is over

Companies: Shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH, Fortune 500) surged after the health insurance company announced a nearly $5 billion buyout of Brazilian's largest health care company, Amil.

Marathon Petroleum's (MPC, Fortune 500) stock surged after the oil company announced plans to buy $2 billion of BP's (BP) North American assets.

Netflix (NFLX) shares gained 6% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'equal weight.'

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) shares ticked lower as thousands of workers at Foxconn went on strike to protest working conditions on the iPhone 5's production lines.

Shares of Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) fell 2% after reports that the retailer is expanding its tech-support Geek Squad service to eBay Inc (EBAY, Fortune 500) and sTarget (TGT, Fortune 500) stores.

American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) and Walmart (WMT, Fortune 500) are teaming up on a new prepaid card service, dubbed Bluebird. Shares of prepaid carriers Green Dot (GDOT)and Netspend (NTSP) fell sharply on the news.

The unofficial release of a House Intelligence Committee draft report warned against doing business with Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE. Both companies seek to expand operations in the west, and the report details national security concerns because of the firms' ties to China's government.

Aside from Alcoa, Costco (COST, Fortune 500), JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) are all reporting results this week.

Fear & Greed Index

Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro and British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for November delivery fell 63 cents to $89.27 a barrel.

Gold futures for December delivery fell $6.90 to $1,773.80 an ounce.

First Published: October 8, 2012: 9:48 AM ET

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