Wall St. retreats from record as industrials, tech lag

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54.25 points, or 0.23 percent, to 23,274.38, the S&P 500 lost 10.19 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2,565.02 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 42.23 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,586.83.

NEW YORK: U.S. stocks declined on Monday as each of the major Wall Street indexes retreated from a record, weighed down by a drop in technology and industrial shares.

General Electric , down 6.3 percent, suffered its biggest one-day percentage decline in more than six years after a host of brokerages cut their price targets on the stock, citing higher chances of a dividend cut at the industrial conglomerate.

After holding near the unchanged mark for most of the session, losses accelerated late in the session on downturn in technology <.SPLRCT>, off 0.40 percent.

Last week, the Dow and S&P managed to close at a record high all five days, after a strong start to third-quarter earnings and on hopes President Donald Trump's tax plans move forward after the Senate's approval of a budget resolution on Friday.

"On the one hand, the market is very extended, overbought, on the other hand so far earnings have come through," said Andrew Slimmon, portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Chicago.

"The question becomes what happens if tax reform doesn’t happen in 2017, does the market sell off into the year-end?"

Investors are also waiting for news on the next Federal Reserve chief. Trump told reporters on Monday he is "very, very close" to making his decision on who should chair the Fed.

Of the 97 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 73.2 percent have topped expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, versus the 72-percent average for the past four quarters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54.25 points, or 0.23 percent, to 23,274.38, the S&P 500 lost 10.19 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2,565.02 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 42.23 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,586.83.

Industrials <.SPLRCI>, were off 0.8 percent as one of the biggest drags to the S&P of the 11 major sectors. Aside from GE, the group was also pulled lower by a 10.4-percent tumble in Arconic after the specialty metals maker missed profit estimates and announced a new chief executive.

The energy index <.SPNY> stumbled 0.59 percent, driven by losses in Schlumberger , Baker Hughes and Halliburton , which reported results on Monday.

Hasbro plunged 8.6 percent after the toymaker's forecast for the holiday season fell below estimates as Toys'R'Us bankruptcy began to hurt its operations. Shares of peer Mattel fell 3.2 percent.

The S&P 500 posted 91 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 104 new highs and 41 new lows.

About 5.84 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 5.83 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions

European shares edged higher on Monday, though banks weighed and Madrid's bourse lagged peers as Catalonia's political crisis deepened.

The pan-European STOXX 600 <.STOXX> index ended the session 0.2 percent higher, while Spain's benchmark IBEX <.IBEX> fell 0.6 percent, with banks including BBVA and Banco Santander , both down more than 1 percent, taking the most points off the index.

"At this moment you don't have contagion from Spain to the broader European market. It's seen as a national and localised issue", said Pierre Bose, head of European equity strategy at Credit Suisse.

Madrid has urged Catalans to accept its decision to dismiss their secessionist leadership and take control of the region, as the nation's biggest political crisis in decades enters a decisive week.

Financial shares fell across Europe, with the banking sector <.SX7P> down 0.5 percent and heavyweights Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered losing 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.

Company results were also in focus, with Securitas among the top STOXX performers, up 3.6 percent after reporting third-quarter earnings. [nL8N1MX0RR]

A profit warning sent British car dealership chain Pendragon 18 percent lower.

The number of profit warnings issued by British companies jumped to 75 in the third quarter, the biggest quarterly rise in almost six years, as economic pressures weighed on retailers and support service companies, business services group EY said on Sunday.

Reports or speculation about mergers and acquisitions animated trading, with Britain's Spire Healthcare jumping more than 15 percent, its biggest one day rise, as it rejected a takeover approach by private hospitals operator Mediclinic International .

Engineering group GKN was up more than 5 percent after a report said it was considering splitting into two listed companies.

French utility Engie added 2.1 percent after a financial newsletter reported it was in talks over the possible sale of its liquefied natural gas division to French oil group Total , which rose 0.3 percent.

German consumer goods group Henkel was trading 0.6 percent lower after it said it was considering expanding its business in the United States via acquisitions.

Dutch healthcare technology company Philips rose 1.1 percent after its core profits in the third quarter rose 12 percent to 532 million euros, as strong growth in China pushed comparable sales up 4 percent.