(By Balachander) U.S. stocks ended in red as lingering worries about the global economic growth dented sentiment.
S&P 500 Index fell 0.22 percent to finish at 1,456.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.15 percent to end at 13,558.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 0.60 percent to close at 3,160.78.
Contributing to the weakness was a report that Germany and France were struggling to agree on when to introduce a banking union for the euro-area. A territorial dispute between Japan and China also weighed on the sentiment.
A report showed that the German Ifo business confidence index declined for a fifth straight month.
On the U.S. economic front, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August was a negative 0.87, down from a negative reading of 0.13 in July. The Dallas Fed manufacturing survey showed the general business index read a negative 0.90 in September, better than a negative 1.60 last month and economists expectations of a reading of minus 1.20.
Hot Stocks Of The Day: AAPL, FB, QCOR, TIVO, CTB, RHT, PAYX, SVNT, PPHM
In corporate news, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 1.84 percent in premarket. The world's most valuable technology company said it has sold over five million of its new iPhone 5, just three days after its launch on September 21, yet the numbers fell short of some analysts' expectations.
Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOR) plunged 36.67 percent after the company disclosed in a filing that the U.S. government was probing its promotional practices.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) retreated 9.06 percent. A weekend report in Barron said the social network's stock is overvalued given growing uncertainty about the outlook for its business.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO) jumped 3.97 percent after the digital-video-recorder (DVR) company agreed to settle a pending patent suit with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ).
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE:CTB) rose 4.46 percent after shares of the maker of replacement tires were upgraded to "Buy" by Deutsche Bank.
Red Hat Inc. (NYSE:RHT) may be focus ahead of its quarterly report. The provider of open source software services is expected to earn cents 29 cents a share on revenue of $322.1 million for the second quarter.
Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) fell 1.08 percent in extended trading following its first-quarter results. Earnings were in line with market expectations, while revenue missed consensus.
Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SVNT) jumped 16.80 percent after the company named John Hamill as Chief Financial Officer.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PPHM) lost more than half of its value after the company said previously reported clincal data from a midstage lung cancer drug study were reliable due to a third-party discrepancy in conducting the study.
Global Markets:
European markets closed lower, with Germany's DAX down 0.52 percent to close at 7,413.16. France's CAC40 declined 0.95 percent to finish at 3,497.22. U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.24 percent to end at 5,838.22.
Asian markets closed mixed, with China's Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index added 0.32 percent to finish at 2,033.19. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.45 percent to end at 9,069.29. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.19 percent to close at 20,694.70. India's BSE Sensex closed at 18,673.34, down 0.42 percent.
Commodity & Currency Scan:
Crude oil futures dropped 0.98 percent to $91.98 per barrel and natural gas futures fell 1.35 percent to $2.846 per million metric British thermal units. Gold futures lost 0.61 percent to $1,767.2 per ounce while silver futures shed 1.63 percent to $34.075 per ounce.
In the currency market, the euro fell 0.41 percent against the U.S. dollar to 1.2928. The British pound edged 0.06 percent lower against the greenback to 1.6219, and the dollar slipped 0.41 percent against the Japanese yen to 77.8500.