FILE-In this Friday, June. 29, 2012, file photo, specialist James A. Denaro works the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell. For Tuesday July 3, 2012 Dow futures were down less than 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures were up less than 0.1 percent. (AP Photo/David Karp, file)
FILE-In this Friday, June. 29, 2012, file photo, specialist James A. Denaro works the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell. For Tuesday July 3, 2012 Dow futures were down less than 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures were up less than 0.1 percent. (AP Photo/David Karp, file)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Edgy investors sent stocks lower Monday on Wall Street ahead of U.S. corporate earnings reports and amid more signs of instability in Europe.
About an hour before the closing bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 66 points at 12,706. The Dow was headed for its third straight decline.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell six points to 1,348, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 15 points to 2,922. Health care stocks rose the most, while energy stocks fell the most.
Alcoa, one of the 30 stocks in the Dow, becomes the first major U.S. company to report second-quarter results after the market closes Monday. Before the results came out, investors sent the stock down 7 cents to $8.65.
Alcoa's results are often seen as a harbinger for other major companies. So far, investor expectations are low. Wall Street forecasts a 1 percent decline in second-quarter earnings of S&P 500 companies compared with last year, according to Standard & Poor's Capital IQ. That would be the first decline since the third quarter of 2009.
Kim Caughey-Forrest, senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, said many portfolio managers are afraid that this earnings season could bring bad surprises about stocks they've picked up earlier this year.
"It's report card time," Caughey-Forrest said.
Investors were also spooked Monday by news from Europe, where Spain's borrowing costs rose as finance ministers from the euro countries gathered in Brussels to finalize a rescue package for Spain's banks.
The interest rate on Spain's 10-year government bond rose to 7 percent. Greece, Ireland and Portugal all asked for help from their international lenders when their own borrowing costs rose that high.
In Greece, a new three-party coalition government won a vote of confidence in parliament early Monday, ending a period of uncertainty that led to two elections in less than two months. Greece is in its fifth year of recession and has survived for two years on international rescue loans.
Spain is in better shape financially, and can afford the high rates for a few weeks at least. However, a long-term solution is badly needed to prevent the nation, which has an unemployment rate near 25 percent, from defaulting.
A pair of acquisitions were announced Monday. The nation's second largest health insurer, WellPoint Inc. is paying $4.46 billion to acquire Amerigroup Corp, a provider of Medicaid coverage.
With the acquisition, Wellpoint seeks to become a major player in state and federally funded programs like Medicaid. Its stock was up $1.76, or 3 percent, to $61.70. Amerigroup soared $24.54, or 38 percent, to $88.86.
Also on Monday, the world's biggest soup maker, Campbell Soup Co., said it will buy natural foods maker Bolthouse Farms in a $1.55 billion cash deal. Campbell stock fell 34 cents, or 1 percent, to $32.65.
Among other stocks that were making big moves on Monday:
? LinkedIn, the social networking company, was down $6.08, or 5.5 percent, to $102.80 after reports that Facebook would add a job search feature to its website, which could pose direct competition for LinkedIn.
? FTI Consulting, a business advisory company, was down $1.81, or 6.2 percent, to $27.32 after announcing on Friday that it was planning to cut 3 percent of its work force.
? Visa and MasterCard fell after an analyst recommended investors sell those stocks because of the global economic slowdown. MasterCard fell $11.40, or 2.5 percent, to $430.23, while Visa fell $2.2, or 1.8 percent, to $123.
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