NEW YORK — Worries about the outlook for growth in China and a slide in the price of oil pushed the stock market to its biggest loss in almost seven weeks Monday.
Investors are nervous about China following a run of soft economic data that suggests growth in the world’s second-largest economy is slowing. The worries about China helped push down the price of oil. That in turn weighed on energy stocks.
The stock market has struggled to gain traction this month as investors have weighed signs of an improving economy in the U.S. against evidence of slowing growth in both Europe and Asia.
“We’ve got China weighing down on stocks,” said Kristina Hooper, U.S. investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors. “The lack of transparency there always creates greater uncertainty.”
The Standard &Poor’s 500 index dropped 16.11 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,994.29. The loss was the biggest one-day decline for the index since Aug. 5. The index is down 0.5 percent this month.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 107.06 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,172.68. The Nasdaq composite dropped 52.10 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,527.69.