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By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer For investors, February is starting out just as rough as January. U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 320 points after reports of sluggish U.S growth added to investor worries about the global economy. The slump fol- lows the Dow's worst Janu- ary performance since 2009. The market stumbled from the get-go, with U.S. markets opening lower after declines in European and Japanese indexes. Then it quickly turned into a slide as a spate of discouraging economic data on every- thing from manufacturing to auto sales to construction spending poured in. By late afternoon, the sell-off accelerated further, bringing the Dow down more than 7 percent for the year. The S&P 500 index was down more than 5 per- cent on the year. Some stock watchers took the market's decline in stride. They considered it a necessary recalibration fol- lowing the market's record highs at the end of last year. ''It's a bit painful for investors to see the equities markets drop as they have, but this is healthy for this market,'' said Chris Gaffney, a senior market strategist at EverBank. ''We've been almost 2-1/2 years without a 10 percent correction. So we're still in that healthy correction, if you will.'' All told, the Dow tum- bled 326.05 points, or 2.1 percent, to 15,372.80. It fell as much as 342 points earli- er in the afternoon. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 40.70 points, or 2.3 percent, to 1,741.89. The Nasdaq composite dropped 106.92 points, or 2.6 percent, to 3,996.96. There were signs of worry throughout the mar- ket. The VIX index, a mea- sure of stock market volatil- ity, rose to its highest level since December 2012. Investors shifted into U.S. government bonds, pushing yields lower and continuing their sharp decline since the start of the year. Staffing company Robert Half International fell the most among stocks in the S&P 500 index. Car- Max and Pfizer were among the few stocks to eke out gains on the day. Cold U.S. weather emerged as common prob- lem for the economy last month. Investors were discour- aged Monday by a private survey showing U.S. manu- facturing barely expanded last month as frigid temper- atures delayed shipments of raw materials and caused some factories to shut down. Construction spend- ing rose modestly in December, slowing from healthy gains a month earli- er. Automakers also piled on the disappointing news, as an icy January slowed vehicle purchases. Ford shares slipped 41 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $14.55 and General Motors shares fell 83 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $35.25 after the automakers reported a drop in U.S. January sales, hurt by harsh weather that kept customers away from deal- erships. GM sales fell 12 percent, while Ford said sales fell 7 percent. Chrysler bucked the trend with U.S. sales gains of 8 percent, and ana- lysts still expect U.S. auto sales to reach more than 16 million this year — a return to pre-recession levels. ''Investors had expecta- tions going into 2014 of a much stronger U.S. eco- nomic recovery than actual- ly what we're seeing and we've had to reset our expectations,'' Gaffney said. Fresh signs of weakness in China also weighed on the minds of investors. An official Chinese man- ufacturing survey released over the weekend showed factory output grew at a slower rate in January com- pared with December in the world's second-largest economy. The report released on the weekend followed an HSBC survey that showed an outright contraction in manufactur- ing. Investors have been looking for more pullbacks this year and possibly a cor- rection, the technical term for when a stock market index like the S&P 500 falls10 percent or more. Three months ago, analysts at Goldman Sachs said there was roughly a 60 per- cent chance that a correction would happen this year. Monday's slide moved the market closer to possi- bility. Among other negative signs for the market: In 2013, the Dow had only one 300-point-plus down day. It's had two 300-plus drops in 2014, barely two months in. ''I think we are in correc- tion phase and the bias will be to the downside for a while longer,'' said Frank Davis, director of trading at LEK Securities. ''It would make sense to see a healthy pullback after last year. Air has to come out of the mar- ket.'' All 10 sectors in the S&P 500 index fell, and telecom- munications stocks posted the biggest declines, weighed down by AT&T and Verizon Communica- tions. Facing lower stocks and global jitters, investors moved into the relative safety of U.S. government bonds. Bond prices rose, and the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.58 percent from 2.65 percent on Friday. 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Red Bluff www.redbluffdodge.com After tough January, stock extend slide Wall Street State: Google must move 'mystery' barge SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google must move its mystery barge from a construction site on an island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay because the permits are not in order, a state official said Monday The notice came after the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission investi- gated amid numerous complaints about the construction of the float- ing, four-story building, commis- sion executive director Larry Goldzband said. The investigation found that neither the Treasure Island Devel- opment Authority nor the city of San Francisco had applied for required permits for the work to be done at the site. Goldzband said Google can resolve the issue by moving the barge to one of the fully permitted construction facilities in the San Francisco Bay. ''It needs to move,'' he said. Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Preliminary planning docu- ments submitted to the port last fall showed plans for Google to build an interactive space for people to learn about technology. The documents ended months of speculation that the barge would be a party boat, data storage center or a store for Google to sell its Internet-connected glasses. Google has not made public statements about the barge or another vessel off the East Coast. Goldzband said the construction in San Francisco Bay was not authorized by the agency, and the Treasure Island Development Authority, which allowed the pro- ject, could face fines and enforce- ment proceedings. Google can resolve the issue by moving the barge to one of the fully permitted construction facili- ties in the San Francisco Bay, he said. The disclosure by the California agency marked the second set of permit problems for the barge pro- ject. Late last year, work was halt- ed after the Coast Guard said addi- tional permits were needed.