NEW YORK (AP) — After pushing stocks to records last week, investors turned cautious on Monday ahead of a batch of corporate earnings reports. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.3 percent to close at 17,024.21. That’s almost 50 points lower after closing above 17,000 for the first time last week. The S&P 500 lost 7.79 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,977.65 and the Nasdaq composite fell 34.40 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,451.53.
TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets ended mostly lower today, after U.S. indexes pulled back from record highs yesterday. Stocks in Japan and South Korea slipped slightly and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended flat. But markets in Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia rose. Trading in Europe is down.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drivers with three trucking companies at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have begun what they say is an indefinite strike. Right now the impact on the movement of cargo around the main gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade with Asia, is limited. But the threat of a broader disruption looms if striking truckers take their pickets from the offices of their employers to the dockside terminals.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua’s government and Hong Kong-based HKND Group have unveiled the route of a proposed $40 billion inter-ocean canal to compete with the Panama Canal. Sandinista officials hope the canal will lift the Central American country out of poverty. But many legal experts say the deal violates Nicaragua’s national sovereignty. And environmental experts warn that construction could cause profound ecological damage.
NEW YORK (AP) — The cupcake company Crumbs says it’s closing all its stores, a week after being delisted from the Nasdaq. The New York City-based company says all employees at its 65 locations in 12 states and Washington, D.C., were told the bad news Monday. Crumbs will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.