Asia Worries Send Stocks Sliding

FOX Business: Capitalism Lives Here

U.S. equity markets stumbled on Monday after weaker-than-expected export data from China spooked Wall Street traders.

Today's Markets

As of 11:56 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 79.4 points, or 0.48%, to 16373, the S&P 500 slumped 6.5 points, or 0.35%, to 1872 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 14.1 points, or 0.32%, to 4322.

The broad S&P 500 closed at yet another record high last week, climbing 1%. The monthly jobs report, which is considered one of Wall Street's most important gauges, showed the American economy added more jobs than expected last month, helping traders shake off worries that the recent bout of weakness was sparked by more than temporary factors.

A report on Chinese trade, however, once again sparked concerns about the global economy. The world's No. 2 economy saw its exports plummet 18.1% on year-over-year basis in February, compared to expectations they would rise 7.5%. Japan's fourth-quarter growth was also revised down to an annual rate of 0.7% from 1%.

Equity markets in Asia had a tough session: The Japanese Nikkei 225 slid 1%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng dropped 1.8% and the Shanghai Shenzhen 300 tumbled 3.3%.

The U.S. economic docket is bare on the day. There is a key report on retail sales due out later in the week.

On the corporate front, Boeing (NYSE:BA) shares dipped 1.1% in pre-market action after Malaysia Air flight 370 -- which was flown on a 777-200 jet made by the U.S. aerospace giant -- went missing Friday.