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While the rest of the world spirals into a debt-filled economic abyss, ultra-wealthy Persian Gulf states like Qatar and Kuwait are propped up by the high prices of crude oil and natural gas.

Global sovereign wealth funds are set to hasten investing the billions of dollars of cash holdings they have built up in a rebound from the 2008 financial crisis that has lifted their combined assets to a record.

U.S. stocks suffered a rout after Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on the U.S. government debt, warning that the U.S. fiscal profile may become meaningfully weaker than that of other triple-A-rated countries if policy makers can't tame the budget deficit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 140.24 points, or 1.14%, to 12201.59, led lower by Bank of America and Caterpillar, which each fell 3.1%.

U.S. stocks gave up modest gains to turn lower in the final minutes of Monday's trading session, as financials and materials sectors joined consumer and tech stocks in the red.