U.S. stocks follow global markets lower

U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday, as a broad-based sell-off in overseas stock markets weighed on investor sentiment.

European stocks fell on Monday, with both France's CAC-40 and Germany's DAX off nearly 2 percent. The Athens Stock Exchange remained closed Monday, but might reopen on Tuesday after a one-month shutdown.

Chinese shares also slumped on Monday as investors unnerved by weak economic data dumped their shares to lock in profits following last week's rally, sinking the benchmark index into the worst single-day loss in eight years.

On the economic front, new orders for manufactured durable goods in June increased 7.7 billion U.S. dollars, or 3.4 percent, to 235.3 billion dollars, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Monday.

Investors are also keeping an eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting this week, which is the last one before September.

In corporate news, Chinese search engine giant Baidu will post quarterly results after the closing bell Monday. Several other Internet companies will report financial results this week as well, including Twitter and Facebook.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 120.72 points, or 0.69 percent, to 17,447.81. The S&P 500 shed 11.59 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,068.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 42.04 points, or 0.83 percent, to 5,046.59.

U.S. stocks declined for the fourth straight session amid mixed earnings Friday. Endi