Stocks closed slightly lower in light trading, as worries about slowing growth and probably weak earnings season persisted. The World Bank on Monday reduced its forecast for the East Asia and Pacific region down from the 7.6% estimate it made in May to 7.2%, while cautioning the slowdown in China could get worse. It also warned that worsening conditions in Europe could knock off 2% from Asia's GDP growth next year. Meanwhile, Germany received a surprisingly positive report showing exports in August increased 5.8% over the previous year. Tech stocks started the week with losses with Apple and Facebook among the decliners. Apple fell 2.2% after a China Labor Watch report that a Foxconn factory in China had been crippled by a strike, while Apple contractor denied the report. Facebook slipped 2.4% after BTIG LLC downgraded the co. to sell. Meanwhile, Netflix soared 10.5% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight and set an $85-a-share price target, citing the belief that it’s unlikely Amazon would offer its current Amazon Prime Intstant Video service as a stand-alone product, as it could require to invest $1.2 billion. Also, Polycom jumped 8.5% after the co. unveiled a slate of products aimed at allowing users of different videoconferencing services to collaborate over Web browsers. Implied volatility inched higher on modest trading volumes.
