Wall Street hits lowest level in five months; S&P breaks support

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Monday to continue their recent decline, with the S&P 500 dropping to its lowest level since May on global growth concerns.

The benchmark S&P index had slumped 3.1 percent last week and Monday's losses pushed the index below both the 1,900 level and its 200-day moving average of around 1,905, seen as support points.

The declines were sparked last week by a cut in the global growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund and disappointing economic data in Europe.

Earnings season will pick up this week, with results expected from Dow components Intel , Johnson & Johnson , UnitedHealth , American Express and General Electric , as well as financials Morgan Stanley , Citigroup , Bank of America and Wells Fargo .

"The market is continuing to fall on technical weakness awaiting the earnings reports ... the flood begins tomorrow," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

"The fact we broke 1,900 on the S&P, the 200-day moving average, if we don?t close above there today, that means the trip to lower levels is more than probable at this point."

Volume is expected to be muted on Monday in light of the U.S. Columbus Day holiday, which could create more volatility.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd has approached CSX Corp about merging the two North American railroad operators to create a transcontinental carrier worth more than $60 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

CSX shares jumped 11.1 percent to $33.28, while U.S.-listed shares of Canadian Pacific rose 0.7 percent.

At 10:49am, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 60.13 points, or 0.36 percent, to 16,483.97, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 12.55 points, or 0.66 percent, to 1,893.58 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 45.44 points, or 1.06 percent, to 4,230.79.

The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 was CSX while the largest percentage decliner was AutoNation , down 6.2 percent.

The largest percentage gainer on the Nasdaq 100 was VimpelCom LTD , rising 3.3 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Tesla Motors , down 6.4 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Bank of America , unchanged at $16.48; Petrobras , up 8.64 percent to $16.97 and CSX.

On the Nasdaq, GT Advanced Tech , down 48.0 percent to $0.42; and Apple , off 0.4 percent to $100.30, were among the most actively traded.

Declining issues were outnumbering advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,695 to 1,174, for a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,486 issues were falling and 1,005 advancing for a 1.48-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 3 new 52-week highs and 34 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 10 new highs and 227 new lows.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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