Late-day selling sent U.S. stocks to a loss Monday and erased nearly all of the market’s gains for the month. Weak earnings for drug companies pushed health care stocks lower, and energy shares fell as natural gas plunged.
Investors lost enthusiasm for stocks after two straight weekly gains. Health care stocks fell farthest as drugmakers Endo International, Mylan and Mallinckrodt all slumped. Oil prices rose, but natural gas hit a 17-year low. Banks lost ground, partly because investors are worried about their potential losses on loans to energy companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 123.47 points, or 0.74 percent, to 16,516.50. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 15.82 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,932.23. The Nasdaq composite index fell 32.52 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,557.95.
Monday’s loss pushed the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to their third monthly loss in a row. The Dow eked out a gain of 0.3 percent for its first positive month since November.
John Manley, chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Fund Management, said investors are nervous. “A lot of investors have fantastic profits from three or four years (of gains), and they also have terrible memories from seven or eight years ago,” he said. “Why not sell first and ask questions later?”
The drug and medical device company Endo lost $11.13, or 21 percent, to $41.81 after the company said it will wind down its Astora women’s health business and set aside $834 million to cover costs from possible product liability lawsuits over vaginal mesh implants, which have been linked to thousands of injuries.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals slid after the company withdrew its financial forecasts. The stock gave up $14.85, or 18.4 percent, to $65.80. Mallinckrodt declined $4.21, or 6.1 percent, to $65.03.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 97 cents, or 3 percent, to $33.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the global benchmark, gained 87 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $35.97 a barrel in London.
Natural gas prices skidded 4 percent to $1.71 per 1,000 cubic feet, its lowest level since March 1999. In a research note, Commodity Weather Group said it expects a “super warm pattern” to start in about a week. That will lead to less demand for heat as the winter comes to a close.
