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Wall Street closes lower ahead of earnings season

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US stocks have fallen ahead of the opening of earnings season, with the slow economy and worries about Europe and China pressing down on sentiment.

At the closing bell on Monday the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 36.03 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 12,736.44, having earlier been down as much as 86 points.

The S&P 500 lost 2.23 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,352.45.

The tech-rich Nasdaq slid 5.56 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 2,931.77.

Pessimism over second quarter earnings coupled with more signs of weakness from Japan and China to push shares down.

“Expectations are overwhelmingly negative,” said Evariste Lefeuvre, an economist with Natixis.

“It appears as if there is enough blame to go around, should Q2 results truly be disappointing,” said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ.