By Tanya Agrawal and Anya George Tharakan
REUTERS - U.S. stocks were lower in early afternoon trading on Monday, weighed down by financial and consumer discretionary stocks, as some investors cashed in following a record-setting week.
The three major U.S. indexes closed higher for the third week in a row on Friday, with the S&P 500 notching its seventh record close since Nov. 8.
Oil prices gained more than 2 percent in volatile trading, recouping early losses, as the market reacted to the shaky prospect of major OPEC producers being able to agree output cuts at a meeting on Wednesday.
U.S. stocks have soared since Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election as investors expect his plans to boost infrastructure spending, cut corporate taxes and reduce regulation to benefit the economy.
Up to Friday's close, the S&P 500 had jumped 3.4 percent since Nov. 8, while the small-cap Russell 2000 soared 11.9 percent.
"U.S. stocks have soared since the election. At this point, it would be perfectly normal to see the market pull back a bit to digest the very strong move," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at 50 Park Investments.
"Technically, the market is very overbought and just about everyone out there, including the strongest bulls, want to see a nice orderly consolidation."
At 12:42 p.m. ET (1742 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 28.02 points, or 0.15 percent, at 19,124.12.
The S&P 500 was down 4.82 points, or 0.22 percent, at 2,208.53 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 11.14 points, or 0.21 percent, at 5,387.78.
Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the financial index leading the decliners with a 0.94 percent fall.
Wells Fargo and Bank of America were down about 1.5 percent and were among the biggest drags on the S&P.
The consumer discretionary index also fell 0.57 percent.
Amazon was down 1.6 percent at $767.74 after Citigroup reduced its price target on the stock. The stock was the biggest drag on the Nasdaq and the S&P.
Time Inc jumped 16 percent to $16.01 after the New York Post reported that the publisher had rejected a takeover bid from billionaire investor Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,757 to 1,126. On the Nasdaq, 1,852 issues fell and 891 advanced.
The S&P 500 index showed 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 134 new highs and 16 new lows.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
