U.S. down after Draghi comments

Draghi stressed the importance of a tighter fiscal union among European nations. But he also undercut hopes that the central bank would be more aggressive in helping struggling countries by expanding its bond purchases. What’s more, Draghi called the economic outlook highly uncertain, according to media reports.

Wall Street‘s benchmark indexes ended more than 2% lower for the five-day period last week, as investors characterized the most recent European Union summit — a highly anticipated Dec. 9 event that resulted in an agreement to forge a tighter fiscal union — as doing too little to help debt-burdened euro-zone members in the short term.

On Friday, early gains evaporated after Fitch Ratings cut France’s outlook to negative and warned of possible downgrades for six European countries.

“The U.S. stock market remains highly correlated with the direction of European news flow,” said Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at Davidson Cos.

Investors awaited word about a conference call that European Union finance ministers had scheduled to catch up on progress since the recent leader summit; any reports from that call, such as what entity could supply more aid, could ripple through global markets

Asia markets slumped Monday after reports of the death of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il. The region is likely to see increased focus in coming days and weeks amid concerns about stability in the country and region.