Wall Street Gives Up Early Gains, Extends Losing Streak - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks lost ground again in Monday's trading, adding to the steep decline seen last week.

Wall Street saw mild gains early in the session, as investors tested the waters after the recent sell off. Enthusiasm for bargain hunting soon tapered off, however, and by mid-day, shares were losing ground again.

The major averages eventually finished the day with modest losses. This marked the fourth consecutive day of declines for Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 70.73 points, or about 0.5 percent. The blue-chip index is now hovering just above the 15,000 mark, ending the day at 15,010.74.

The Nasdaq slipped 13.69 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 3,589.09. The S&P 500 retreated 9.77 points, or 0.6 percent, to end at 1,646.06.

There was little in the way of new information to drive the stock market on Monday. After last week's flurry of data, there were no major reports on the schedule. The week as a whole is light on new statistics, though some information on home sales and on layoffs will draw attention later in the week.

The Federal Reserve has been at the center of investors' concerns lately. The central bank is expected to start winding down its stimulus effort, a potentially dangerous prospect for a recovery that still appears to be fragile.

There was selling in the treasury market as well on Monday, as investors opted to move into cash rather than put money from the stock market into fixed income. This drove yields higher, with the yield on the 10-year note climbing 5.5 basis points to 2.884 percent. This added to a move seen last week, part of a longer-term advance in yields since May.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Index edged down by 0.2 percent.

European stocks lost ground on the session. France led the way with a decline of nearly 1 percent. Germany declined 0.3 percent. The U.K. dropped 0.5 percent.