Wall Street lower as energy shares drag

US stocks were lower on Monday as crude prices slipped after a much anticipated meeting of oil producers failed to result in a deal to freeze production.

Crude was down about 3% after the failed talks in Doha renewed fears of an escalating battle for market share among the major producing countries and add to the stubborn global surplus.

"This is definitely negative news for the energy sector, but it seems the index can still hang on there," said Zhiwei Ren, managing director and portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management.

Ren said the losses in oil were moderate despite the collapse of the talks because bullish positions had been reduced heading into the weekend.

A rebound in oil and signs that the U.S. economy was recovering had helped stocks rally from a steep selloff at the start of the year. The S&P 500 is now up about 1% in 2016, after falling as much as 10.5% earlier in the year.

While macroeconomic and geopolitical factors continue to weigh on markets, focus now turns to U.S. earnings reports as investors look for the impact of the global turmoil on financial markets and the slump in commodities on balance sheets.

Morgan Stanley barely rose to $25.85 after the Wall Street bank's quarterly profit halved, but came above estimates.

Hasbro jumped 5.3% to $86.81 after the toymaker reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue.

At 9:37 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was down 38.25 points, or 0.21%, at 17,859.21, the S&P 500 was down 5.86 points, or 0.28%, at 2,074.87 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 18.25 points, or 0.37%, at 4,919.96.

Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by a 1.21% fall in energy. Shares of Chevron were down 1%, while Exxon shed half a percent.

Expectations for the first quarter are bleak, with earnings at S&P 500 companies seen falling 7.8% on average and revenue expected to fall 1.6%, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

IBM and Netflix are slated to post results after the market closes. Netflix was down 2%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,910 to 752. On the Nasdaq, 1,514 issues fell and 726 rose.

The S&P 500 index showed one new 52-week high and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 17 new highs and 9 lows.