Wall Street Follows Dow Chemical Lower

Shares of Ford gave up 3.1% to $2.22, and General Motors (GM Quote) lost 1.6% to $3.60 in the session.

GMAC Financial Services, the auto and mortgage financing arm of GM, last week received approval from the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company contingent on completing a debt-for-equity exchange by 11:59 p.m. EST Friday. That designation would give the company access to government programs, including Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP. However, the company remained tight-lipped through the weekend as to whether it met its thrice extended deadline.

Economic conditions continue to deteriorate globally. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said Monday that as many as 600,000 people could lose their jobs in Britain next year. That would make 2009 the worst year for unemployment since 1991, according to a report on CNBC.

In economic data, consumer confidence, initial jobless claims and manufacturing surveys are due out this week. Discouraging retail figures emerged ahead of the weekend, as sales lagged this holiday season as expected. They fell between 5.5% and 8% compared with the year prior's holiday season, according to preliminary data from SpendingPulse, a division of MasterCard Advisors.

Beginning next week, the economic calendar will pick up once again, and we'll get a clearer picture of exactly how bad retail sales really were during the holidays, writes Todd Salamone, senior vice president of research at Schaeffer's. Moreover, fourth-quarter earnings reports will begin flowing into the headlines in the middle of the month. Finally, he says, the Obama administration officially takes over the White House later in the month, and we'll get to see what actions it takes (or plans to take) to deal with the current economic crisis and the fate of the auto industry.