New York - Wall Street stocks Monday dropped in early trade following disappointing German economic data as the market looked ahead to a two-day Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting that opens Tuesday.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 16,740.13, down 65.28 points (0.39 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 11.32 (0.58 percent) to 1,953.26 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 29.62 (0.66
percent) to 4,454.10.
Equity markets in Britain, France and Germany all fell by at least one percent after the Ifo business climate index for Germany fell to 103.2 points in October from 104.7 points in September, the lowest level since December 2012.
Analysts also cited the reelection of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is viewed as unfavourable towards business.
Investors are looking to Wednesday's Fed meeting to see if the central bank will follow through on its plan to end its bond-buying program and offer any additional comment on its expectations to raise benchmark interest rates in 2015.
Dow component Merck fell 1.2 percent as it reported a 20.4 percent drop in third-quarter earnings to $895 million (R10 billion) on revenues that came in below expectations.
The results translated into earnings of 90 cents per share, two cents above analyst forecasts.
Valeant Pharameuticals of Canada advanced 0.1 percent as it signaled it would raise its bid for Allergan to $60 billion.
Botox-maker Allergan lost 0.2 percent following earnings that translated into $1.78 per share, 10 cents above analyst forecasts.
Banana producer Chiquita Brands gained 1.4 percent after announcing it agreed to bought by Brazilian juice exporter Cutrale Group and investment bank Safra Group in a $1.3 billion deal.
The deal came after Chiquita shareholders rejected Friday a separate plan to merge with Irish fruit rival Fyffes.
Bond prices rose.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dipped to 2.26 percent from 2.27 percent Friday, while the 30-year fell to 3.03 percent from 3.05 percent.
Bond yields and prices move inversely. - Sapa-AFP