The S&P 500 fell slightly Monday as traders pored over the latest batch of corporate earnings results, searching for clues on the health of corporate America.
The Dow Jones Industrials hesitated 7.06 points to break for lunch at 33,879.41.
The S&P 500 fell 8.49 points Monday to 4,129.15.
The NASDAQ dipped 44.39 points to 12,080.31.
Earnings season pressed on with results from State Street and Charles Schwab before the bell. Schwab shares, which have come under pressure amid fears that the brokerage firm may suffer a similar fate to Silicon Valley Bank, rose 2.5% on a profit beat despite a decline in deposits. The company's defended its financial position in recent weeks, noting last month it has a low loan-to-deposit ratio. State Street, meanwhile, missed on the top and bottoms.
Wall Street is closely monitoring the health of financial names this earnings period after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month spurred a liquidity crisis and rocked the broader sector.
Elsewhere, the S&P's communication services sector slumped 1.7%, led to the downside by declines from tech giants Alphabet, Netflix and Meta Platforms. The Google parent company fell 3.5% as The New York Times reported that Samsung could make Microsoft's Bing its default search engine.
Corporate earnings got off to a positive start last week as banking giants Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase beat expectations, seeming to suggest that behemoths are holding up against mounting recession fears.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury docked some of their strength, raising yields to 3.60% from Friday's 3.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $1.65 to $80.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices backtracked $13.50 to $2,002.30 U.S. an ounce.