Stocks opened in negative territory and saw their best levels a short time after the open. The early weakness was attributed to trade concerns and another report about Apple (AAPL) suppliers being told to cut back. Apple's slide took the Nasdaq with it and the Dow and S&P followed as well. The downward momentum did not abate much throughout the day as the Nasdaq's slide eventually reached over 3% and the S&P fell nearly 2% to start this holiday-shortened week.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the NAHB housing market index fell 8 points to 60 in November. In trade news, Reuters reported that Zhang Xiangchen, China's ambassador to the World Trade Organization, said during a WTO conference in Paris last week that China intends to propose reforms of the WTO, while warning fellow WTO members against seeing change as a chance to put Beijing in a straitjacket.
COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Apple fell 4% after The Wall Street Journal said that the company has cut production orders for all three iPhone models launched in September due to lower than expected demand, echoing other recent reports.
Meanwhile, Facebook (FB) slipped 6% after the company was the subject of a negative Journal article following the critical New York Times report last week. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told his top lieutenants earlier this year that the social media company was "at war" and he planned to lead Facebook accordingly, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new approach has led to unprecedented turmoil at Facebook, causing several key executives to depart from the company, as well as created tensions with COO Sheryl Sandberg, according to the report.
Nissan (NSANY) Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested after an investigation found that both Ghosn and director Greg Kelly have been inaccurately reporting figures in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Ghosn's compensation. The company also uncovered "numerous other significant acts of misconduct" by Ghosn, such as personal use of company assets, and will propose he be promptly removed from his position as chairman, Nissan announced.
On the M&A front, Bloomberg reported that Mondelez (MDLZ) is working with Morgan Stanley as it mulls a bid for Australia's Arnott's Biscuits, which makes Tim Tams, and Danish butter-cookie producer Kelsen Group, both of which are Campbell Soup (CPB) brands.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Resolute Energy (REN), which rose 14% to $34.70 after the company agreed to be acquired by Cimarex Energy (XEC) for $35 per share. Also higher was NIO Inc. (NIO), which gained 9% after the Chinese electric carmaker was mentioned positively by Citron Research, which put a $12 short-term price target on the stock.
Among the notable losers was Colfax (CFX), which fell 15% after it agreed to acquire DJO Global from private equity funds managed by Blackstone (BX) for $3.15B in cash. Also lower was JD.com (JD), which dropped 8% after reporting quarterly results. Additionally, Axios reported that JD CEO Richard Liu will step aside from management of the company as he faces a rape accusation in Minnesota.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 395.78, or 1.56%, to 25,017.44 , the Nasdaq lost 219.40, or 3.03%, to 7,028.48 , and the S&P 500 declined 45.54, or 1.66%, to 2,690.73 .
