US stocks move lower, oil price falls

U.S. stocks moved lower in mid-morning trading Monday as oil prices fell and investors reacted to signs that the Federal Reserve (Fed) was still on pace to raise interest rates in September.

Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said over the weekend that policymakers still has a “pretty strong caseâ€‌ for raising rates in September, running counter to recent market sentiment that China’s economic slowdown and global market volatility might prompt the central bank to wait.

Asian markets experienced another bumpy day, as the Shanghai Composite Index fell as much as 2.6 percent, but recovered close 0.8 percent lower, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also spent most of the day in the red before closing up 0.3 percent. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.3 percent. European stocks fell broadly, with Germany’s DAX losing 1 percent and France’s CAC-40 lost 1 percent. U.K. markets were closed for a holiday.

The dollar traded lower against major world currencies, with the euro above $1.12 and the yen near 121 yen against the greenback. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery declined 38 cents to $4.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures fell $4.20 to $1,129.70.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 100, or 0.60 percent, to 16,543. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 12, or 0.62 percent, to 1,976. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index declined 27, or 0.55 percent, to 4,802.