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By William Watts, MarketWatch , Chris Matthews

U.S. stocks fell modestly Monday as global growth concerns dogged investors, offsetting a strong rally in Chinese equity markets, and as investors looked ahead to this week's deluge of third-quarter earnings reports.

What are major indexes doing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67 points, or 0.3%, to 25,371, while S&P 500 was down 9 points, or 0.3% to 2758. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6 points to 7441.

What's driving markets?

Stocks are trying to find direction after bulls and bears fought each other to a stalemate last week, leaving the benchmark S&P 500 to eke out a weekly rise of less than 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite suffered a 0.6% fall for its third straight weekly decline as once-popular technology shares continued to take a beating, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke a three-week losing streak with a 0.4% rise.

Increased volatility has left investors nervous in what's been a rough October. The S&P 500 is down 5% in the month-to-date, while the Dow is off 3.8% and the Nasdaq has shed 7.4%. That's left the S&P 500 5.9% off its record high set in late September, while the Dow is down 5.6% from its early October peak.

Chinese stocks surged for a second day Monday on reassuring comments by leaders and regulators (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-stock-rally-in-china-bolsters-markets-across-asia-2018-10-21)in the wake of last week's market rout and disappointing economic data. The Shanghai closed 4.1% higher, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite soared more than 5%.

Over the weekend, China President Xi Jinping emphasized China's support for the private sector, according to the Xinhua News Agency, following concerted moves Friday by Vice Premier Liu He, Xi's top economic official, and the head of the central bank and financial regulators to reassure investors.

Investors will be wading through a flood of earnings this week as the third-quarter reporting season hits its stride.

What are analysts saying?

Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, told MarketWatch that "we have seen the narrative begin to shift," to a more cautious one, citing fears over slowing global growth and whether U.S. companies can maintain their recent strong earnings growth in the quarters to come.

"Investors are anxious for more information," he said, adding that while he believes the current backdrop is supportive of stocks, it will all some down to earnings. "With so many bellwether names across so many industries reporting this week, things should get interesting."

U.S.-listed Chinese companies are set to surge out of the gate this morning, said Joel Kulina, analyst with Wedbush Securities. It's a "risk on start of the week as investors position [themselves] ahead of an EPS [earnings per share] ramp," he wrote in a note to clients.

"Reassurance from the Chinese leadership that they will support the economy have triggered the biggest one-day increase in equity indices since 2015 and has given markets everywhere a risk-friendly bias to start the week," said Kit Juckes, global macro strategist at Société Générale, in a note.

What stocks are in focus?

Shares of Hasbro Inc.(HAS) were down 5.5% in early morning action, after the toy maker missed third-quarter profit and revenue expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hasbros-stock-set-for-selloff-after-profit-and-revenue-fall-miss-expectations-2018-10-22) and announced a restructuring that will cut jobs.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) posted lower profits and a management shuffle (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kimberly-clark-names-new-ceo-as-earnings-fall-2018-10-22), with current COO Michael Hsu taking over as CEO from Thomas Falk, effective Jan. 1. Despite beating analysts earnings and revenue estimates, the stock was down 0.6% Monday morning.

Energy services company Halliburton Co.(HAL) on Monday topped third-quarter profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/halliburton-beats-estimates-despite-weak-demand-2018-10-22) and revenue estimates, though shares fell 2.2%

Shares of Chinese e-retailer JD.com, Inc. (JD) surged in premarket trading, after a strong showing on Chinese markets Monday. The stock is up 4% in early morning trading.

Another beneficiary of the Chinese rally was Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (CTRP), China's largest online travel agency. Shares in the company rose 3.4% Monday morning.

Shares of American Railcar Industries Inc.(ARII) soared more than 50% after it announced a deal that would see it acquired by a fund managed by investment firm ITE Managment L.P. Under the terms of the deal, valued at $1.75 billion, ITE will pay $70 for each share of the company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/american-railcar-to-by-bought-in-a-175-billion-deal-by-ite-giving-icahn-a-757-million-profit-2018-10-22), 51% above Friday's closing price of $46.29. Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP) is the majority owner of American Railcar, with 11.9 million shares, or 62.2% of the shares outstanding, according to FactSet data.

What data are in store?

In a light day on the economic calendar, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index decreased to +0.17 in September from +0.27 in August.

How are other markets trading?

The Shanghai Composite Index closed 4.1% higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-stock-rally-in-china-bolsters-markets-across-asia-2018-10-21), it's best day in more than 2 years, according to FactSet, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite soared more than 5%.

European stock markets rose modestly (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/europe-picks-up-on-global-gains-with-italian-stocks-in-the-lead-2018-10-22), with the Stoxx Europe up 0.1% during trading Monday. In London, the FTSE was also up (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/banks-miners-led-the-way-higher-for-ftse-100-2018-10-22), 0.5%.

Oil futures fell slightly Monday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-pauses-for-direction-as-traders-monitor-us-saudi-tensions-2018-10-22), while gold prices dropped 0.6%. The U.S. dollar rose moderately.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2018 10:18 ET (14:18 GMT)

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