Wall Street fell more than 1 percent on Monday as sovereign debt fears on both sides of the Atlantic and monetary tightening by China hurt the outlook for global economic growth.

However, equities ended off their lows in a heavily traded session as some analysts said the sell-off was overdone, though the decline was the largest in a month.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 140.24 points, or 1.14 percent, to end unofficially at 12,201.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 14.54 points, or 1.10 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,305.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 29.27 points, or 1.06 percent, to close unofficially at 2,735.38.

(Reporting by Ed Krudy; Editing by Jan Paschal)