Financials Lead Wall Street Lower

NEW YORK, Sep. 27 -- U.S. stocks ended modestly lower on Monday despite a round of takeover news, dragged by financials after Moody's downgrade on an Irish bank.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.22, or 0.44 percent, to 10,812.04. However, the blue-chip index was still on its way to the best September since 1939.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 6.51 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,142.16 and the Nasdaq was down 11.45 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,369.77.

Financial sector were among the worst performers in the market on Monday as Moody's downgrade on an Irish bank reignited worries about the health of European banks. Moody's Investors Service cut the debt of Anglo Irish Bank by three notches on Monday, citing the bank is expected to require further government support.

With no economic news to direct their trading, investors were turning to corporate news to figure out the strength of the economy.

Southwest Airlines jumped 8.71 percent after it said it will purchase AirTran Holdings Inc., whose share soared 61.32 percent, for about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Consumer giant Unilever gained more than 1 percent after agreeing to buy Alberto Culver, a maker of hair care products, for 3.7 billion dollars in cash. Shares of Alberto Culver jumped nearly 20 percent after the news.

News on deal making are always favorable to equities as investors regarded them as a sign that companies were confident about the economy and willing to spend money for business expansion.

Among other stocks worth mentioning, Baidu rose 5.99 dollars, or 6.12 percent to finish at 103.82 dollars per share on Monday, which was a new all-time closing high for the China's search engine giant. Since late August, Baidu has been rising an astonishing 31 percent.

Monday's pull-back came after major indexes ending at the highest level since May. Wall Street was steadily higher in September, with major indexes gaining for four consecutive weeks, as a string of economic data showed the U.S. economy was recovering at a slow pace. Although the data were far from robust, they were sufficient to ease the concerns about a double-dip.

Meanwhile, the statement from the Federal Reserve about further easing on monetary policies also contributed to recent rally.