Dow Tumbled over 300 Points

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday, after a much weaker-than-expected reading on manufacturing data as well concerns over a slowdown in China triggered the worst selloff in several months. The Dow Average dropped 326.05 points, or 2.08% to 15,372.80. The S&P 500 fell 40.70 points, or 2.28%, at 1,741.89.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 106.92 points, or 2.61%, at 3,996.96,

American manufacturers said orders from customers slowed sharply in January after hitting a more than four- year high in December. The Institute for Supply Management index sank to 51.3% from 56.5% in December, marking the lowest level in eight months.

Last year’s private spending on home-construction projects hit the highest level since 2008, but remained far below the record, according to government data released Monday. As builders started work on the most new homes since 2007, residential-construction spending reached $330.7 billion in 2013, up 18% from the prior
year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

U.S. car sales slipped to a three-month low in January, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.24 million from 15.4 million in December, according to the latest tabulations from Autodata.