Stocks close lower as falling oil drags energy sector down

NEW YORK — Energy companies led U.S. stock indexes lower Monday as the price of crude oil declined. Phone company and materials stocks were also among the big decliners. Investors were weighing the latest batch of company earnings news.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 19.04 points, or 0.1%, to 20,052. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.86 points, or 0.2%, to 2293, as the broad-based index snapped a three-day winning streak. The Nasdaq composite index fell 3.21, or 0.1%, to 5664, as the tech-heavy index pulled back from Friday's record closing high.

"We’re not quite breaking out, we’re not really going down. We’re just caught in this range,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial. “When you look at why, at least today, it’s the realization that earnings season is OK, but it’s not quite as good as we might have hoped.”

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Benchmark U.S. crude fell 82 cents, or 1.5%, to close at $53.01 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost $1.09, or 1.9%, to $55.72 a barrel in London.

Several energy companies were trading lower. Devon Energy slid 3.2%, while Chesapeake Energy dropped 3%. Marathon Oil shed 4.1%.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.42% from 2.47% late Friday.

Investors are still cautious as Trump’s early acts as president have been shaping markets for the past couple of weeks. On Friday, Trump directed the Treasury Secretary to look for potential changes to the Dodd-Frank law, which reshaped financial regulations after the 2008-09 financial crisis. Investors applauded that move but remain uncertain about the future impact of other policies. Over the weekend, the U.S. immigration ban on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries was blocked by a federal judge and an appeals court turned down a Justice Department request to set that judgment aside. The White House said it expects the courts to restore executive order, which was founded on a claim of national security.

The unpredictable nature of Trump makes it very difficult to anticipate what his next moves will be, as evidenced by his actions a week ago on immigration,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. “This may ensure for now at least that while markets have remained volatile, a more cautious approach will be adopted during the bedding in period.”

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 fell 1% while Germany’s DAX dropped 1.2%.  Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2%.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.3% to 18,976.71. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.2% to 2,077.66. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.0% at 23,348.24, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% to 3,156.98.