Stocks end lower as China, Asia outlooks dim

• World Bank warns of 'more pronounced slowdown' in China, world's second-largest economy
• Earnings season in the U.S. begins this week with Alcoa set to release results Tuesday
• Companies in S&P 500 expected to post overall profit decline, first time in 11 quarters

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks dipped Monday as economists grow increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for Asia.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.2%, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% and the Nasdaq suffered a drop of 0.8%

Investors are also increasingly worried about how bad the third-quarter results will be as earnings season kicks off for major U.S. corporations.

The World Bank on Monday warned of the possibility of a "more pronounced slowdown" in China, the world's second largest economy, and it cut its growth forecast for Asia.

If Asia takes a turn for the worse, it could drag down the U.S. economy. One of the few bright points for the U.S. during the recession was tremendous growth from developing nations in Asia and other regions of the world for exports.

The bank cut this year's growth outlook for developing Asia-Pacific economies to 7.2%, down from its May forecast of 7.6%. The bank cut its forecast for China, the region's biggest economy, to 7.7% from May's 8.2%.

The lowering of growth forecasts also sent oil prices down for the second straight trading session. Over the past week, oil prices have seesawed $2 or $3 a barrel above and below $90 amid widespread uncertainty about economic and political situations worldwide. On Monday, the price of crude oil was down 55 cents, 0.6%, to end the day at $89.33 a barrel.

The Columbus Day holiday in the U.S. meant that fixed-income markets were closed for the day and volume in stocks trading was muted.

One stock leader Monday: Netflix (NFLX), the leading provider of online videos, jumped 11% to $73.81 in late afternoon trading. That's the stock highest price in months and well above the 52-week low of $52.81 that the stock nearly hit again just a few weeks ago. On Monday, Netflix got a lift after Morgan Stanley upgraded it, saying that competition from Amazon.com was "overblown."

Major U.S. corporations begin posting results for the latest quarter this week, starting with Alcoa on Tuesday.

FactSet says companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index are expected to post an overall profit decline for the first time in 11 quarters.

However, some of those expected declines are being offset by expectations of another intervention from the Federal Reserve, which has indicated that it stands ready to act if there are not more signs of recovery in a fragile economy.