Stocks fell late in Monday's session, ending significantly lower, as investors turned pessimistic ahead of key U.S. economic reports due later this week. Stocks opened lower as investors responded to a mixed report on U.S. consumers and two multibillion-dollar corporate deals but selling gained momentum late in the day. Investors are looking ahead to reports on U.S. consumer spending, home sales, and manufacturing activity. But most importantly, they are preparing for the government's monthly jobs report to be released on Friday. In U.S. economic news Monday, a government report showed personal income rose 0.2 percent in July, in line with expectations. The report said consumer spending outpaced income growth, rising 0.4 percent, slightly more than analysts had expected. However, personal savings as a portion of disposable income was lower than in June. The U.S. dollar rose against the euro and fell against the yen. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery fell 63 cents to $74.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $1.30 to $1,239.20 an ounce. French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis agreed to buy biotechnology firm Genzyme in an $18.5 billion cash deal. Genzyme has reportedly been rejecting Sanofi's offers for the past month, prompting the French company to send a letter that is one step short of a hostile takeover. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 140.92, or 1.4 percent, to 10,009.73. 3M said it will acquire biometric security company Cogent Systems in a 943 million deal, and its shares fell 1.6 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 15.67, or 1.5 percent, to 1,048.92. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 33.66, or 1.6 percent, to 2,119.97. Intel shares fell 1.6 percent after the world's biggest chipmaker signed a deal to buy the wireless unit of German chipmaker Infineon in a $1.4 billion all-cash deal.
