Stocks closed down on Wall Street Monday as the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecasts for global
economic growth and US retail sales dropped.
For the current year, the IMF trimmed its global forecast by 0.1
percentage points to 3.5 percent, while cutting its 2013 projection
by 0.2 points to 3.9 percent.
Financial woes in Europe, topped by concerns about Italy and
Spain, threaten the broader world economy, the Washington-based
crisis lender said as it pared back its forecast for 2012-13.
US retail sales declined 0.5 per cent in June after a 0.2-percent downturn in May, government statistics showed.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49.88 points,
or 0.39 per cent, to 12,727.21. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 3.14 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1,353.64. The
technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 11.53 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,896.94.
The US currency fell against the euro to 81.48 euro cents from 81.64 euro cents on Friday. The dollar dipped against the Japanese currency to 78.84 yen from 79.18 yen.
