Markets slide into 'summer soft patch'

Stocks slogged through a day of losses Monday, ending with the seventh drop in eight days in what one trader termed the "summer soft patch."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 49.88 points at 12,727.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.23 percent ending at 1,353.64, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.40 percent ending at 2,896.94.

Dragging on the markets was a report from the U.S. Commerce Department that said retail sales fell 0.5 percent in June from the month before, the third straight month of declining sales.

"The summer soft patch is here, and it could be here a while," said Randy Frederick, a managing director at Charles Schwab, the stock brokerage firm. "Consumers are belt-tightening."

Companies that rely heavily on consumer spending were among the weakest. Home Depot fell 64 cents to $51.45 and Lowe's Cos. lost 92 cents to $25.80.

Also dampening spirits was news that the International Monetary Fund trimmed its estimate for global economic growth. The global lender said it expects the world economy to expand 3.5 percent this year, down from its previous estimate of 3.6 percent in April. It cut its growth estimates for next year, too.