Roundup: U.S. stocks decline following global rout

U.S. stocks fell for the fifth straight session on Monday as a broad-based sell-off in overseas stock markets weighed on Wall Street sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 127.94 points, or 0.73 percent, to 17,440.59. The S&P 500 dropped 12.01 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,067.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 48.85 points, or 0.96 percent, to 5,039.78.

Chinese shares nosedived on Monday as investors unnerved by weak economic data, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunging 8.48 percent, its worst single-day loss in eight years.

Later on Monday, China Securities Finance Corporation, Ltd.( CSF), the securities watchdog, said it will continue to buy stocks to stabilize the market.

European equities also suffered big losses on Monday as the fall in commodity prices triggered worries of a slowing growth in global economy, with French benchmark index CAC 40 tumbling 2.56 percent.

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, beating market consensus, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Monday.

"A base appears to be forming in orders, but it remains to be seen how reliable it is. Orders increases in April and May disappeared in subsequent revisions, meaning capital spending in Thursday's Q2 GDP release is likely to be slightly negative," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Investors were also keeping a close eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting scheduled to begin on Tuesday, which is the last one before September.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, soared 13.54 percent to end at 15.60 on Monday.

In other markets, gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The most active gold contract for August delivery rose 10.9 dollars, or 1 percent, to settle at 1,096.40 dollars per ounce.

Oil prices fell as traders worried that more Iran crude would come to the market.

The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery moved down 75 cents to settle at 47.39 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery decreased 1.15 dollars to close at 53.47 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The U.S. dollar declined against the Japanese yen as investors' demand for safe-haven assets went up amid waning global equity markets.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1097 U.S. dollars from 1.0980 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 123.24 Japanese yen, lower than 123.75 yen of the previous session. Endite