Wall Street slips on economic concerns

By Kristina Cooke

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Monday, as investors worried about the outlook for companies, including General MotorsGM.N and Goldman Sachs (GS.N), given the global economic downturn and enthusiasm for China's deep-pocketed stimulus plan faded.

The financial sector led the way lower after Barclays analysts said they expected Goldman Sachs to post a quarterly loss for the first time in the company's history due to steep equity market declines.

In another piece of worrisome news for the beleaguered sector, the cost of rescuing American International Group (AIG.N) jumped to $150 billion (96 billion pounds) after a smaller bailout failed to stabilise the ailing insurance giant,

Dow component GM's shares, meanwhile, fell to 62-year lows after Deutsche Bank recommended that clients sell the automaker's shares and a number of brokerages warned that GM and its rivals are burning through cash fast.

McDonald's (MCD.N) helped the Dow fare better than the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The world's largest hamburger chain said global sales at its fast-food restaurants open at least 13 months rose 8.2 percent in October, topping analysts' targets.

Stocks worldwide initially rose after China approved a $586 billion government spending package and said it would adopt a "moderately easy" monetary policy. But the euphoria swiftly fizzled as investors doubted that the steps would work quickly enough to lessen the blow of a steep global economic downturn.

"Talk Goldman Sachs will report a loss for the quarter is contributing to this sell-off. It seems to be overwhelming the longer-term positive associated with the Chinese stimulus," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

"China's stimulus won't work instantaneously and we're already in a global recession," Orlando said.