AlQa'dah 9, 1433, Sep 25, 2012, SPA - U.S. stocks closed lower Monday, as pessimism persisted over the global business climate. In international news, a report showed that Germany's business climate index fell to its lowest level since February 2010. Investors also remained concerned about a territorial dispute over islands that sit on a vast natural gas reserve in Asia. There were no U.S. economic reports Monday. In company news, Apple's stock dropped more than 1 percent after the company announced that it sold more than 5 million iPhone 5 devices during its first weekend on the market, which was considered slightly disappointing. Shares of Google hit an all-time high, topping their previous record set in November 2010. Facebook shares slumped another 9 percent after a Barron's story called the stock a bad investment. The dollar gained ground versus the pound and the euro, but lost ground against the yen. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery fell 96 cents to $91.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures lost $13.60 to $1,764.40 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 20.55, or 0.15 percent, to 13,558.92. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 3.26, or 0.22 percent, to 1,456.89. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 19.18, or 0.60 percent, to 3,160.78.
