By Lewis Krauskopf
(Reuters) - Wall Street fell on Monday, dragged down by financial shares, but rebounded from steeper initial losses as investors assessed how the defeat of President Donald Trump's first major legislative action would impact the rest of his agenda.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was on pace for its eighth straight session of declines, which would be the longest such streak in nearly six years.
With stocks soaring to record highs after Trump's election, investors are concerned about the fate of his agenda, including tax reform and infrastructure spending. Congressional Republicans pulled their healthcare overhaul bill on Friday after failing to gather enough votes.
But some analysts and investors are hopeful the healthcare bill's failure will pave the way for quicker action on legislation deemed desirable by investors, namely tax reform.
"The market is still cautiously optimistic that the Trump White House will be able to push through many of their pro-business policies, and I think a lot of people are hopeful the Trump rally can continue through at least the middle of the year," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 69.64 points, or 0.34 percent, to 20,527.08, and the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 6.18 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,337.8.
The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 2.93 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,831.67.
The benchmark S&P 500 had declined as much as 0.9 percent initially on Monday and briefly breached its 50-day moving average for the first time since just after the Nov 8 U.S. presidential election.
The S&P 500 has climbed more than 9 percent since Trump's election, but the rally has stalled recently.
"With the economy continuing to improve, I would look at any pullback as a buying opportunity at this point in time," said Mark Watkins, regional investment manager at the Private Client Group at U.S. Bank.
The S&P 500 financial sector (SPSY) fell 0.8 percent, while the telecoms group (SPLRCL) fell 0.9 percent.
Healthcare (SPXHC) climbed 0.4 percent, helped by hospital stocks after the healthcare bill's failure.
In corporate news, Snap Inc (N:SNAP) shares jumped 6 percent after several of the Snapchat owner's IPO underwriters gave it "buy" ratings.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.46-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and 7 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 49 new lows.