Stocks ease back from record highs

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq receded a bit Monday from last week's record closes on the heels of the strong jobs report.

After the 4 p.m. ET closing bell, the Standard & Poor's 500, which notched an all-time high of 2182.87 Friday, stood 0.1% lower for the day. The technology-packed Nasdaq composite, which hit a record close of 5221.12 Friday, finished down 0.2%.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which kicked off the week less than 52 points shy of a new record, closed down 14 points, or 0.1%.

U.S. stocks, which had been stuck in a holding pattern after hitting fresh highs in late July, rallied sharply Friday after the government reported that a better-than-expected 255,000 jobs were created in July. It was the second straight month of strong employment gains, which reinforced the view that the U.S. economy and consumers remain healthy after a weak start to the year.

Reports on consumer activity may boost market

In deal news, retail giant Walmart announced that it was buying e-commerce site Jet.com in a $3.3 billion deal as it looks to bulk up its online retailing bandwidth. WMT finished down 0.6%.

Shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL) rebounded from earlier losses only to slip back into negative territory, ending down 0.6%, after a temporary computer outage grounded flights.

The stock market was also getting a boost from the oil market, where U.S.-produced crude rallied, rising 2.9% to $43.02 after dipping below $40 per barrel last week. The oil cartel, OPEC, said it will hold informal talks next month and again discuss a possible production freeze.

OPEC oil freeze talks may be resurrected

The yield on the 10-year government, which rose sharply Friday as sellers dumped bonds amid fears that a September rate hike may be back on the table after the strong July jobs report, was up again early Monday. The 10-year note yield spiked to 1.61%, its highest level since June 23, the day Britain went to the polls and voted to exit the European Union.

In overseas stock market action, shares of Japa's Nikkei 225 kicked off the week in rally mode, surging 2.4%. Shares were also 1.6% higher in Hong Kong and up nearly 1% in mainland China.

Shares in Europe were mostly unchanged with the broad Stoxx Europe 600 index sporting fractional gains.