Morning Market Roundup: U.S. Orders Down, BP Up, China’s Growth Worries Markets

Here’s what’s important in the financial world this morning

U.S. Orders: Businesses sharply reduced orders for machinery and other core capital goods in January after a tax credit expired, pushing U.S. factory orders down by the largest amount in 15 months.

Even with the decrease, orders are near pre-recession levels, according to the Associated Press.

The Commerce Department said Monday that factory orders fell 1 percent in January. Investment in a category considered a proxy for business investment fell 3.9 percent, the biggest decline in a year. This followed a big increase in December, the final month businesses could take advantage of a one-year investment tax break.

British Petrol: Shares in BP PLC hit their highest level in more than a year Monday in the wake of the oil company’s announcement that it had reached a settlement with victims of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BP shares were up 1.5 percent at 504 pence in afternoon trading.

The company’s share price earlier struck a high of 512 pence, its highest level since January 2011.

BP said Friday it expects to pay out at least $7.8 billion as part of the settlement and the money to come from the $20 billion compensation fund that it established.

China/Greece: Worries over slowing economic growth in China and concern that a Greek bond exchange deal may not be going according to plan are pushing U.S. stocks lower Monday morning.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 22 points to 12,955 a half hour after the opening bell, a loss of 0.2 percent. Materials and energy stocks fell the most. Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc. led the Dow average lower with losses of 1.2 percent. Banks and energy stocks also fell. Wells Fargo fell 1.6 percent, and Morgan Stanley was off 1.7 percent. Alpha Natural Resources was down 3.5 percent.

Investors are particularly worried of the effect of a slowdown in China’s economy on global growth. In recent years, a thriving Chinese economy has helped shore up the global economy in the wake of a banking crisis, a deep U.S. recession and debt problems in the Eurozone.

On Monday, China‘s premier Wen Jiabao lowered the economy’s growth target to 7.5 percent from 8 percent, where it has stood for years.

Further weighing on the market are worries that there aren‘t enough private investors participating in Greece’s bond swap, which could worsen the European debt crisis. Results are due late Thursday.

Greece and its bondholders have agreed on a debt swap that would reduce the face value of their holdings by 53.5 percent. Bondholders including banks, insurance companies, and investment funds are being offered new bonds that are worth less, have a longer time to be paid off and bear less interest. The debt reduction is one condition of Greece getting a second bailout package from other European countries and the International Monetary Fund.

The Associated Press contributed to this article