Dow slips for third straight day

CNBC's Margaret Brennan - The Dow fell for the third straight day on Monday with a Nasdaq hitting it’s lowest close since October of 2006, while the dollar hit a new low against the Euro. Oil hit an intra-day high of more than USD 103/bbl and got a double whammy of weak economic data.

With the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reporting that manufacturing activity slowed to 48.3 in February. Now anything below 50 indicates a contraction.

We also saw the construction spending fell by nearly 2% that’s the fastest rate in 14-years and this is the fourth consecutive construction decline and out of this of course a by-product of the housing markets demise.

All of that added up to a lot of pressure on financial stocks with Citigroup dropping 2.6%, JP Morgan also down around 2% on Monday.

 
Wall Street action:

• Dow falls for 3rd day on Monday; Nasdaq hits Oct 2006 closing lows
• Dollar hits new low against euro
• Oil hits intra-day high of $103/bbl
• ISM reports that mfg activity slows to 48.3 in Feb
• Construction spending falls by nearly 2%
• Financial stks under pressure, Citi drops 2.6%, JP Morgan down 2%