US stocks declined on Monday after Citigroup Inc reported second-quarter earnings missed Wall Street forecasts, but a sharp drop in oil prices limited declines. Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company, fell 2.5 percent to $45.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.
But shares of industrial companies like heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc, which are seen as proxies for the economy, rose when oil prices dropped. Caterpillar gained 1.2 percent to $51.28.
Shares of airline companies also gained as oil prices slipped, with Delta Air Lines Inc advancing 2.3 percent to $3.94, and the stock of American Airlines operator AMR Corp added 2.6 percent to $13.91.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 31 points, or 0.29 percent, at 10,610.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 3.65 points, or 0.30 percent, at 1,224.27. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.32 points, or 0.34 percent, at 2,149.46.
After a week when the S&P 500 set a four-year high and the Nasdaq reached its highest point for the year, investor enthusiasm waned a bit.
"It's just a little give-back on the gains we had last week," said Neil Massa, senior trader at John Hancock Funds in Boston. "As we've seen with Citigroup, financials are such a bellwether, they tend to take a big chunk out of the Dow and the S&P."
NYMEX crude oil futures slumped as Hurricane Emily lost some strength over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula after shutting much of that country's oil production. NYMEX August crude fell 89 cents to $57.20 a barrel. On a busy earnings day, Bank of America Corp, the No 2 US bank, topped expectations, but narrowing margins caused lending income to decline from the first quarter. Bank of America fell 1.5 percent to $45.27.
Charles Schwab Corp jumped almost 5 percent to $13.36 after the largest US discount brokerage said quarterly profit rose.
Mattel Inc slid 2.3 percent to $19 after the largest US toy maker posted a quarterly profit that missed Wall Street expectations. But rival Hasbro Inc rose 1.8 percent to $21.86 after the company said earnings jumped 57 percent.
Shares of appliance maker Maytag Corp shot higher after the company said its board would consider an unexpected $1.3 billion bid made by rival Whirlpool Corp on Sunday.
Maytag shares soared nearly 13 percent to $17.44 while Whirlpool's stock gained 4.7 percent to $73.31.
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