Investing.com – Wall Street was lower on Monday as stocks were on track for their worst December performance in 16 years as trade concerns and slowing economic growth weighed on sentiment.
The S&P 500 fell 10 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT), while the Dow decreased 125 points, or 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 21 points, or 0.3%.
Investors are keeping an eye on trade developments after U.S. trade ambassador Dennis Shea said that China’s “unfair competitive practices” were harming foreign companies and in violation of World Trade Organization rules.
Washington and Beijing agreed to a 90-day trade truce earlier in December as the two countries work out negotiations.
Meanwhile, low trading volumes as the holiday season kicks off could lead to some volatile moves in the market before the year end.
"Heading into the festive period, trading volumes are expected to be significantly lower, which could make things a lot more interesting as it's unlikely to be the uneventful end to the year that we often see," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda in London.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was among the top gainers after the opening bell, rising 0.7%, while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) gained 0.2% and Ability (NASDAQ:ABIL) rose 3.9%.
Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) fell 2% after news that the company faces criminal charges in Malaysia for the 1MDB scandal. Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) slumped 3%, while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) dipped 0.5% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was down 0.4%.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 4% while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) slipped 2.4%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,246 a troy ounce and crude oil increased 0.1% to $51.52 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slumped 0.3% to 96.59.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.//