copyright 2009, The Washington Post A steep dive in China's stock markets on Monday rattled investors, helping to spark a global sell-off that sent U.S. markets down as much as 1 percent. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 47.92, or 0.5 percent, to 9496.28, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index declined 8.31 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1020.62. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 19.71, or nearly 1 percent, to 2009.06. China's Shanghai composite index had skyrocketed more than 90 percent from January through early August, which led some investors to wonder whether the country would help lead the world out of a recession. But much of that growth seems to have been propelled by massive government lending programs that officials have begun to rein in. Chinese markets have been sliding since early August, and the index plummeted 6.7 percent on Monday. It is down 23 percent since Aug. 4, sending China into bear-market territory. The unease in China weighed on commodities prices in the United States. Gold dropped 0.6 percent, while copper fell 3.9 percent. Benchmark crude oil for October delivery fell $2.78 to settle at $69.96 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Shares of energy- and commodity-producing companies led the decline, with indexes representing the sectors falling about 2.3 percent Monday. 'China set the stage for what happened today,' said Ned Douthat, vice president of Ockham Research. 'The two markets are going to be inexorably tied for the foreseeable future.' Douthat said that stock markets in China have led the those in the United States by several months during this downturn, and he is concerned that investors are due for a pullback. The Dow has jumped 45 percent since hitting a 12-year low in March. 'The equity market is just a little bit overheated right now,' Douthat said. 