Stocks indexes opened lower on Monday as fears of a credit rating downgrade of French banks and the lack of a solution to Greece's debt problem heightened concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis.

Concerns that the credit crisis in Europe may threaten to spill over into U.S. banks have been pressuring Wall Street for several months, sending shares of major banks to their historical lows in recent weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 116.97 points, or 1.06 percent, at 10,875.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 11.59 points, or 1.00 percent, at 1,142.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 21.14 points, or 0.86 percent, at 2,446.85.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)