Monday's early trade: Wall Street falls as consumer, finance stocks weigh

US stocks were lower in late morning trading on Monday, weighed down by financial and consumer discretionary stocks, as some investors cashed in following a record-setting week. The three major US indexes closed higher for the third week in a row on Friday, with the S&P 500 notching its seventh record close since November 8.
Oil prices bounced back in volatile trading after falling as much as 2 percent as the market reacted to the shaky prospect of major producers being able to agree output cuts at a meeting on Wednesday. US 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.
The S&P 500 has jumped 3.4 percent since November 8, while the small-cap Russell 2000 has soared 11.9 percent. "US 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 10:47 am ET (1547 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 65.53 points, or 0.34 percent, at 19,086.61. The S&P 500 was down 7.65 points, or 0.35 percent, at 2,205.7, while the Nasdaq Composite index was down 14.64 points, or 0.27 percent, at 5,384.28. Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the consumer discretionary index leading the decliners with a 0.81 percent fall.
Amazon was down 1.8 percent at $766.68 after Citigroup reduced its price target on the stock. The stock was the biggest drag on the Nasdaq and the S&P. Cognisant Technology Solutions rose 8.1 percent to $57.56 after activist investor Elliott Management disclosed a stake of more than 4 percent in the company. The financial index also fell 0.89 percent. Time Inc jumped 16 percent to $16.01 after the New York Post reported that the publisher had rejected a take-over bid from billionaire investor Edgar Bronfman Jr. Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,801 to 1,011. On the Nasdaq, 1,843 issues fell and 778 advanced. The S&P 500 index showed 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 111 new highs and 14 new lows.