Stocks Opened Sharply Lower on China Concerns

U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday after an increased selloff in Shanghai shares sparked concerns over China’s slowing growth. The Dow Jones industrial average lately fell 138.16 points, or 0.79%, to 17,430.37. The S&P 500 lost 11.27 points, or 0.54%, to 2,068.38. The Nasdaq composite dropped 30.76 points, or 0.60%, to 5,057.87.

China stocks suffered their sharpest daily percentage decline since 2007, as investors worried about a slowdown in government buying and disappointing industrial data.

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted a sizable gain in June, while business investment rebounded after two months of declines. Orders for durable goods jumped 3.4 percent in June from May, when orders had fallen 2.1 percent, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

McGraw Hill Financial (MHFI) said Monday it has agreed to buy SNL Financial from private-equity firm New Mountain Capital LlC for about $2.225 billion in cash. The financial data company and owner of Standard & Poor’s ratings agency said the impact of the deal will be partly offset by tax benefits of $550 million.

Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd said Monday it’s dropping its hostile bid for Mylan Inc. and hooking up instead with Allergan Inc. Tel Aviv-based Teva will buy Allergan’s generics business for $40.5 billion in cash and stock.