Investing.com - Stocks tried to rally on Monday after being battered for most of last week, but confidence faded in the late afternoon.
The S&P 500 ended down 0.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 1.61% on heavy selling in Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). The Nasdaq 100 Index, dominated by big tech companies like Facebook and Alphabet, fell 2.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a late-session rally that saw a 100-point loss turn into a tiny 0.02% gain.
A try at a rally emerged after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the Federal Reserve may need to cut interest rates to counter economic risks from President Donald Trump’s trade fights, but the rally mostly stalled out.
The selling was prompted by reports that the Justice Department may probe Alphabet for antitrust violations. Facebook fell more than 8% on reports the Federal Trade Commission will be looking into antitrust issues as well.
In addition, markets worldwide were wary about the Trump Administrations threats to boost tariffs on goods from Mexico to try to force the Mexican government to stop illegal immigration. A weaker-than-expected report on domestic manufacturing didn't do much for investors' moods, either.
With today's selling, the Nasdaq and the Nasdaq 100 indexes are off more than 10% since peaking in April. A 10% decline from a peak is a common definition of a correction.
The S&P 500 is off 7.1% from its April peak. The Dow is off 7.9% from its 52-week high reached last fall.
The selling caused many investors to flee to the relative safety of bonds. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.08%, its lowest level since November 2016.
Oil prices also fell. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.47% to $53.25 a barrel. Brent Oil Futures, the global benchmark, fell 71 cents to $61.28 a barrel. Both are off nearly 20% from their peaks in April as trade worries swamped traders' thinking instead of OPEC-led production cuts.
Only nine of the 30 Dow stocks finished lower, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) the biggest loser, down 3.1%. Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) was the Dow leader, up 3.7%.
S&P 500 Winners and Losers
DowDuPont (NYSE:DWDP), Capri Holdings (NYSE:CPRI) and LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) were the top S&P 500 performers on the day.
Health-insurance company Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were the S&P 500 laggards.