US stocks close lower; Dow Jones declines 66 points

US stocks ended lower on Monday, with the three major indexes all reporting losses during the first trading day of the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 66.47 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 26,438.48. The S&P 500 fell 13.17 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 2,932.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 40.71 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 8,123.29, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Wall Street kicked off the week with a tumble of more than 470 points in the Dow shortly after the opening bell, indicating broad concerns among investors over the US equity market.

Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around market close, with the materials sector down nearly 1.4 per cent, leading the losers.

Shares of Caterpillar and Boeing, two companies with high overseas revenue exposure, declined more than 1.6 per cent and nearly 1.3 per cent respectively, among the worst performers in the Dow.

Several large tech stocks also suffered losses, among which shares of NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices slid over 1.7 per cent and over 2.8 per cent respectively.

US equities posted mixed results in the week ending May 3, with the Dow falling 0.14 per cent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.20 per cent and 0.22 per cent, respectively, as Wall Street digested a key announcement from the Federal Reserve and a wave of corporate earnings.

--IANS

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