Investors sold off U.S. stocks and helped the dollar recover some ground as the market awaited guidance from official jobless numbers and the start of corporate-earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96 points, or 0.9%, to 10733 in late-afternoon trading, dragged down by a 6.7% tumble at American Express. The card company's steep fall came after the Justice Department filed a civil antitrust complaint against it, saying that the rules it imposes on merchants that take its cards are anticompetitive. Rivals MasterCard and Visa settled its charges, limiting losses at those companies to 1.1% and 0.1% respectively. Microsoft was also a major weight on the market, shedding 2.2%.

About 3.1 billion shares changed hands in New York Stock Exchange composite volume with about half an hour left in trading, far below the year's average of five billion shares traded. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% to 2344, while the Standard & Poor's 500-share index shed 0.9% to 1136. However, Alcoa, which kicks off the third-quarter earnings season on Thursday, fell 2.8% as the materials sector led the day's declines on the S&P 500. Deal news grabbed investors' attention again on Monday. French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis announced a hostile, $18.5 billion bid for U.S. biotech group Genzyme. Genzyme edged up 0.1%, while U.S. shares of Sanofi-Aventis fell 1%. Sanofi approached Genzyme during the summer, but its offer was rejected. Sanofi in a statement on Monday said its conversations with shareholders reveal they are "frustrated" with the U.S. group.

European shares fell Monday, with deal news again grabbing the headlines as Sanofi-Aventis launched a hostile bid for Genzyme Corp., while automotive stocks were among the biggest decliners. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.5% to close at 257.74. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.7% to settle at 5,555.97. The French CAC 40 index fell 1.1% to end at 3,649.81 and the German DAX 30 index finished 1.2% lower at 6,134.21. Auto stocks were among the weakest performers, with BMW dropping 2.2%, Daimler losing 3.8% and Peugeot dropping 3.7%. The sector correlates closely with broader sentiment on the economy, and there's a lot of uncertainty about where income generation for car makers is going to come from, said Stephen Pope, managing partner at Spotlight Ideas.

Moreover, there's likely to be caution ahead of September U.S. nonfarm payrolls figures due out at the end of the week, Pope added. Shares of Sanofi-Aventis lost 0.6% as the French pharmaceutical giant launched an $18.5 billion hostile acquisition bid for Genzyme. The shares briefly pushed higher after Sanofi elected not to increase the value of the offer from the $69 a share that Genzyme had previously rejected. In other deal news, shares of Premier Foods jumped 10.4% in London. The company said it's received an approach for its meat-free food business, which includes the Quorn branded range of vegetarian meals.

Asian equity markets ended mostly higher Monday, though stocks in Japan reversed early gains to end lower as banks tumbled in afternoon trading after a Swiss government expert group proposed higher capital requirements for banks there. The Nikkei Stock Average, which climbed as high as 9,508.36 during the session, fell 0.3% to end at 9,381.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.2%, Taiwan's Taiex ended little changed, while South Korea's Kospi inched up 0.1%. Markets in China were closed for the national day holiday. In Japan, Mizuho Financial Group dropped 5.9%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 2.6% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group lost 2.9%. Consumer finance companies remained under heavy selling pressure in the wake of Takefuji's recent bankruptcy filing. Takefuji slumped 40%, Promise lost 4.8% and Aiful skidded 13%.

Base metals on the London Metal Exchange ended mixed Monday as copper consolidated recent gains and nickel rallied to a five-month high. Volumes dropped in the absence of participants in Chinese markets, which are closed for public holidays until Friday. Copper ended 0.4% lower, and 1% below Friday's two-year high of $8,171 a metric ton. Copper gained nearly 8% in September, when other metals also rallied strongly. Nickel rose to a five-month high of $24,145/ton and tin traded near Friday's two-year high of $25,200/ton.

Crude-oil futures settled slightly lower Monday, pausing after a multi-day rally last week as a stronger dollar kept pressure on prices. Light, sweet crude oil for November delivery settled 11 cents, or 0.1%, lower at $81.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil on the ICE futures exchange traded 46 cents lower at $83.29 a barrel. The intraday high of $82.38 a barrel for the front-month Nymex futures contract was 60 cents short of reaching its highest level since May. But investors grew cautious as the recent rally echoed earlier moves higher that quickly fizzled.

Gold prices pulled back from record highs amid dollar strength and a reluctance among traders to place bets ahead employment data due later this week. The most actively traded futures contract, for December delivery, settled down 0.1%, or $1, at $1,316.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The nearby but thinly traded October contract settled down 0.1%, or 70 cents, at $1,315.40 an ounce.