New York - US stocks fell on Monday with petroleum-linked equities retreating on a big drop in oil prices as Wall Street girds for a busy week of economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.66 points (0.52%) to 17,598.20.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 5.80 (0.28%) at 2 098.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 12.90 (0.25%) at 5 115.38.
Dow members ExxonMobil and Chevron lost 1.5% and 3.3%, respectively, while Marathon Oil lost 2.1% as US crude prices plummeted 4.1% to $45.17 a barrel.
US data showed slightly weaker manufacturing activity and a modest gain in consumer spending. Investors are especially focused on Friday's jobs report for July.
Some technology stocks finished lower including Apple (-2.4%), Netflix (-1.6%), and Tesla Motors (-2.3%).
Social networking companies LinkedIn (-3.0%) and Twitter (-5.6%) fell, adding to their declines following disappointing earnings last week.
General Motors (+0.5%) and Ford (+0.7%) rose after reporting better-than-expected July US auto sales.
Coal companies fell after President Barack Obama unveiled tough new carbon-dioxide reduction targets aimed at power producers. Consol Energy lost 7.6%, while Peabody Energy shed 9.2%.
Tyson Foods slumped 9.9% after slashing its 2015 earnings forecast to $3.10-$3.20 per share from the prior $3.30-$3.40 estimate due to the financial hit in its beef business from elevated cattle costs.
Telecom Company Frontier Communications gained 9.0% as second-quarter revenue rose 19.3% to $1.37 billion.
Frontier said it was on track to complete a deal to buy Verizon's wire line operations in California, Florida and Texas.
Soap and household goods manufacturer Clorox rose 2.7% after reporting net income increased 11% in the quarter ending June 30. It projected flat-to-one percent growth in sales in fiscal 2016.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.15% from 2.19% on Friday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.86% from 2.91%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.