The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones headed lower on Monday following a strong two-week rally as oil prices crashed and investors grew cautious at the start of a week that is likely to bring more dismal quarterly earnings reports and economic data.

Energy stocks shed 0.9% and were on track for their sixth slide in seven sessions as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract fell more than 40% to its lowest since 1998 on concerns of oversupply.

The Nasdaq outperformed the broader market on gains in Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc - deemed "stay-at-home" stocks as widespread lockdowns fuelled demand for online streaming and home delivery of groceries.

S&P 500 firms have recovered about 30% - or $5.8 trillion in market value - since a March trough on a raft of global stimulus and hopes the virus was nearing a peak in the United States.

But the benchmark index remains about 15% below its all-time high and analysts have warned of a deep economic slump from the halt in business activity and millions of layoffs.

US jobless claims touched 22 million in the four weeks to April 11, and analysts have forecast as many as 5 million more in the latest week. A reading of an April US manufacturing survey, also due Thursday, is expected to slide to recession-era levels.

"Today is largely a give back of some of the previous gains as people are trying to assess whether it's going to be six months or nine months or 12 months until the economy is back on regular footing," said Dev Kantesaria, founder portfolio manager of hedge fund Valley Forge Capital Management in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Overall, analysts expect earnings for S&P 500 firms to fall 13.5% in the first quarter, according to IBES data from Refinitiv, while Goldman Sachs has predicted share buybacks will halve and dividends will slide 23% in 2020.

At 11:24 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 211.69 points, or 0.87%, at 24,030.80, the S&P 500 was down 13.25 points, or 0.46%, at 2,861.31 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 17.93 points, or 0.21%, at 8,668.07.

Most declines by midday were led by defensive stocks such as utilities and real estate, which fell about 2% each.

Bank stocks, on the other hand, tracked a decline in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield. Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 2-to-1 on the NYSE, while advancing issues matched decliners on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and eight new lows.