Wall St. retreats as financials, discretionary stocks drag

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell modestly on Monday, weighed down by declines in the financial and consumer discretionary sectors, as some investors booked profits on the heels of a record-setting week.

The three major U.S. indexes had closed higher for the third week in a row on Friday, with the S&P 500 notching its seventh record close since the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8.

U.S. stocks have jumped since Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, with the S&P 500 up 3.7 percent, as investors expect his plans to boost infrastructure spending, cut corporate taxes and reduce regulation to benefit the economy.

The S&P financial <.SPSY> and consumer discretionary <.SPLRCD> sectors have been among the best performers since the election, up more than 4 percent each. The small-cap Russell 2000 <.RUT>, comprised of many domestically-focused stocks, has soared 11.7 percent.

"Those sectors are really due for some moderation in performance and it is very likely over the next week to two weeks we will see them actually underperform the market," said Peter Kenny, senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group in New York.

"That should not be a cause for concern, that is probably very healthy and should lead to a more sustainable move higher in the near-term, heading into 2017."

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 32.5 points, or 0.17 percent, to 19,119.64, the S&P 500 lost 6.89 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,206.46 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 20.49 points, or 0.38 percent, to 5,378.43.

Prices for both Brent and U.S. crude settled up 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.

Three of the top four drags on the S&P 500 were banks, with Wells Fargo off 1.4 percent, Bank of America down 1.9 percent and Citigroup off 1.7 percent.

Amazon down 2 percent at $764.70 was the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P index and the Nasdaq despite a report showing early Cyber Monday sales were expected to finish up 9.4 percent compared with last year.

Time Inc jumped 18.7 percent to $16.15 after the New York Post reported that the publisher had rejected a takeover bid from billionaire investor Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.57-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.11-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 168 new highs and 18 new lows.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)