While you were sleeping: UPDATED Wall St retreats, led by financials

Equities on both sides of the Atlantic moved lower as investors reassessed valuations amid the prospect the US Federal Reserve will increase interest rates at next week's meeting.

Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen last Friday also signalled a potentially steeper pace of further rate hikes this year.

A Commerce Department report showed US factory goods orders rose 1.2% in January, beating economists' expectations.

US Treasuries fell, pushing yields on the 10-year note three basis points higher to 2.494% from 2.492 on Friday, while the greenback strengthened.

Wall Street weakened. At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 51.37 points, or 0.2%, to 20,854.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4% to 5849.17 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 0.3% to 2375.31.

The Dow fell, led by declines in JPMorgan Chase and Intel shares, down 1.0% and 1.1% respectively.

Tyson drops on bird flu report
Tyson Foods shares declined as a deadly form of bird flu was found in a Tennessee operation that supplies the largest US chicken producer.

This is the first confirmed case of highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza in US commercial poultry this year, the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said.

"Based on the limited scope known to us at this time, we don't expect disruptions to our chicken business and plan to meet our customers' needs," Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman told Bloomberg.

State officials quarantined the affected premises and birds on the property will be killed to prevent the spread of the disease, the USDA said, adding that birds from the flock will not enter the food system.

Tyson Foods shares traded 3.4% weaker.

GM sells Opel
General Motors shares declined 0.8% after it said it would take a charge of at least $US4 billion in connection with the sale of its European operations.

Shares of France’s Peugeot gained 2.7% after it said it would pay €1.3 billion for GM’s Opel and Vauxhall brands.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a decline of 0.5% from the previous close. The UK's FTSE 100 Index retreated 0.3%, while France's CAC 40 Index gave up 0.5%, and Germany's DAX Index dropped 0.6%.

Shares of Deutsche Bank dropped 3.2% after the Germany's biggest lender announced it is seeking to raise about €8 billion by issuing new shares as part of a plan to overhaul its business.

"The question is ... whether the bank will need more yet again in a few years," Stefan de Schutter, a trader at Frankfurt-based Alpha, told Reuters. "Until now, none of the restructuring measures have borne fruit."

Bucking the trend, Standard Life shares rose 5.7 % after it agreed to acquire Aberdeen Asset Management to form one of Europe's biggest fund managers.

(BusinessDesk)