LONDON (ShareCast) - Disappointing retail sales and continuing fears over Europe dragged down US equities, with the main benchmark indices sliding for the seventh time out of the last.

Macro economic data

Retail sales in the US fell 0.5% between May and June. It’s the third straight month of weakening data on consumer spending.

The IMF said worldwide growth in 2013 would be 3.9%, lower than the 4.1% estimate released in April. The ongoing European debt crisis and weakening emerging markets contributed to the revision.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's general economic index rose to 7.4 from 2.3 in June, above economists' consensus forecast of a reading of 4.0. Readings in positive territory indicate expansion.

Human Genome Sciences succumbs to Glaxo

The protracted courtship of pharmaceutical company Human Genome Sciences (HGS) by Anglo-American drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline ended with Glaxo lifting its offer to $14.25 a share from its previous offer of $13 a share to secure the backing of the HGS board.

Glaxo is paying almost double the price at which HGS shares were trading before the US company revealed on April 18th that it had been approached by Glaxo. The terms value HGS at $3.6bn but because of HGS's cash position, the final bill for Glaxo will be around $3bn.

One stock that’s caught the eye was Gannett, the publisher of nearly 100 daily newspapers around the US, including USA Today. It climbed after announcing profits for the second quarter that beat the market consensus. This is quite an eye-opener because some of the revenue increase has come from the Internet which, up to now, has been cannibalising advertising income.

On the subject of the Internet, waning web portal Yahoo! has poached Marissa Mayer from rival Google and made her its new Chief Executive Officer. She will replace interim boss Ross Levinsohn tomorrow, when the once king of the Internet is scheduled to issue results after the market closes.

Banking behemoth Citigroup had a bright day after issuing better profits than forecast for the second quarter.

Mastercard gained after announcing after the bell on Friday it is to settle with a group of retailers who had complained over price-fixing. A World Trade Organisation panel reported on Monday that China is discriminating against non-Chinese credit card companies such as American Express, Visa and Mastercard by barring them from handling transactions involving Chinese currency.

Broker downgrades

Engineering giant GE fell after getting downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley to "equal weight" from "overweight". Alpha Natural Resources took a tumble after the Bank of Montreal cited possible financing issues as its reason for downgrading the coal producer to "under-perform" from "out-perform". Sector peer Arch Coal also got the treatment from the Canadian bank, with Bank of Montreal cutting its rating to "under-perform" from "market perform".

Other markets

West Texas intermediate crude for August delivery rose $1.33 to $88.43 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The rise was in part due to a decline in the value of the greenback; the dollar index, which measures the US currency's value against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, eased to 83.192 from 83.324 late on Friday.

S&P 500 - Risers
Supervalu Inc. (SVU) $2.48 +6.90%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $14.98 +5.72%
Avon Products Inc. (AVP) $15.84 +4.28%
Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $3.46 +3.90%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $14.77 +3.79%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $25.58 +2.85%
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) $70.68 +2.72%
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) $10.99 +2.71%
Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI) $14.69 +2.66%
Visa Inc. (V) $127.15 +2.47%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $6.85 -10.22%
Dean Foods Co. (DF) $13.42 -7.58%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $2.05 -6.82%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $73.00 -5.22%
Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) $7.33 -3.93%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $30.46 -3.79%
Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) $25.80 -3.44%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $38.60 -3.38%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $77.59 -3.36%
Ingersoll Rand Ltd. (IR) $39.63 -3.25%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $23.13 +1.40%
American Express Co. (AXP) $58.64 +1.23%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $106.78 +0.73%
3M Co. (MMM) $88.10 +0.58%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $35.09 -2.72%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $51.45 -1.23%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $81.15 -1.12%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.33 -1.07%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $76.48 -1.04%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $62.55 -0.92%
General Electric Co. (GE) $19.59 -0.91%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $14.98 +5.72%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $54.67 +2.03%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $58.26 +1.75%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $51.94 +1.50%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $6.99 -3.45%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $38.60 -3.38%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $77.59 -3.36%
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $18.33 -2.34%
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $58.92 -2.29%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $39.33 -2.19%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $107.35 -2.15%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $52.40 -2.15%


JH

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