The Dow closed below 10,000 Monday for the first time in three months, with financial shares leading the way, as worries about the US economy and European debt weighed on investor sentiment. The DJIA closed 103.84 points lower at 9908.39, the S&P500 closed 9.45 points lower at 1066.18 and the Nasdaq closed 15.07 points lower at 2126.05. The last time the Dow finished below 10,000 was November 4, when it closed 9802.14.
The US dollar slipped versus the euro after rising to a more than six month high versus the European currency last week. The dollar strengthened versus the Japanese yen.
A number of tech stocks gained, including Hewlett Packard, Intel, Google and Cisco Systems.
Home Depot gained after Morgan Stanley reportedly upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, saying it will benefit from a recovering housing market.
But a variety of financial stocks fell, dragging on the market. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo were among the big losers.
Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain will run struggling small business lender CIT Group, the company said over the weekend. CIT emerged from bankruptcy in December. The stock rose 2 percent.
Toyota Motor told its dealers it is close to announcing a solution to the problems with the Prius hybrid Sedan.
Coca-Cola and Walt Disney are due to report results today. Coca-Cola is expected to have earned 66 cents per share up from 64 cents a year ago. Disney is expected to have earned 39 cents per share, down from 41 a year ago.
US light crude for March delivery rose 70 cents to close at $71.89 a barrel on NYMEX.
COMEX gold for April delivery rose $13.40 to close at $1066.20 an ounce.
Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10 year note to 3.59 percent from 3.61 percent late Friday.
The Nikkei average closed at a two month closing low today, with heightened concerns about the euro zone's sovereign debt woes continuing to eat away at investor confidence. Toyota Motor Corp rose with investors welcoming signs it was taking steps to deal with its safety problems. The company announced a recall of the Prius and other hybrid cars for braking problems. The Nikkei average closed 18.92 points lower at 9932.90.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 2.1 percent to Y2,831, after it outshone its larger rivals and posted its biggest profit in seven quarters, helped by an improvement in its stock portfolio and a decline in bad loans.
Takeda Pharmaceuticals slid 2.6 percent to Y3,895 and Chugai Pharmaceuticals fell 2.5 percent to Y1,742. Koito Industries fell 33.5 percent to Y159 after the company said it was told by Japan's Transport ministry to improve business management over the falsification of fire resistance and strength data on plane seats.
UK stocks closed higher on Monday, as gains in rebounding miners and strength in defensive issues more than offset weaker financials, which were weighed by ongoing eurozone debt issues. The FTSE100 closed 31.41 points lower at 5092.33. Strength in miners was underpinned by bullish results from Randgold Resources, up 6.4 percent after the gold miner saw its full year profit jump 79 percent. Xstrata added 3.6 percent after the company reinstated its dividend after it met expectations by posting a 41 percent fall in 2009 profit. The sector was also rebounding from last week's sharp falls when it fell over 8 percent.
Financial stocks took the most points off the FTSE as negative sentiment over euro zone debt problems weighed. Barclays, Standard Chartered, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group fell 0.3-2.3 percent.
Legal and General, Prudential and Aviva fell 2.4-3.5 percent.
UBS raised its cash level in its gold model portfolio and cut equities to neutral from a small overweight, saying risk premiums would remain high for some time on concerns over Greece, Portugal and Spain.
Oil firms also rebounded from recent falls with Royal Dutch Shell and BP up 1.2 and 0.5 percent respectively. But BG Group fell 1.6 percent after its rating was cut to equal weight by Barclays Capital following results on Friday.
International Power added 2.1 percent after a report in the Independent on Sunday said France's GDF Suez is mulling a revised offer for the company, including a cash element.
ICAP rose 3.3 percent, recovering from Friday's plunge which was sparked by a profit warning, helped by a Credit Suisse upgrade to outperform, with the broker calling the falls overdone.
SABMiller rose 3 percent with fourth quarter results due today.