NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Dow Jones industrial average fell sharply Monday, with broad-based selling pressuring the blue-chip indicator, while pockets of strength in the tech sector kept the Nasdaq composite from posting larger declines.

Losses of more than a dollar in components such as Walt Disney (DIS: down $1.08 to $23.02, Research, Estimates) and 3M (MMM: down $1.76 to $122.64, Research, Estimates) pushed the Dow industrials lower, while weakness in telecom and biotech overwhelmed a positive showing in software, keeping the Nasdaq in the red.

Major indexes carried through on the sharp selloff of the previous week. The Nasdaq composite dipped 6.96 to 1,656.93. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 90.85 to 9,819.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 10.87 to close at 1,065.45.

"It was not a pretty day. Sort-of like beating a dead horse," Ted Weisberg, a trader at Seaport Securities, told CNNfn's Street Sweep.

With the period of heavy corporate earnings reporting starting to ease, investor focus is switching back to the economy. Tuesday brings release of the Consumer Confidence index for April from the Conference Board, a private company. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the index to decline to 108.0 from the 110.2 reading in March, which was marked by the biggest rise in six months.

Among other key reports due later in the week are the Institute of Supply Management's reading on manufacturing Wednesday, and the April employment data Friday.

But the first big economic report of the week was largely discounted by investors Monday.

Personal spending and personal income rose slightly last month, showing consumer buying continues to be a point of strength for the recovering economy. Personal income and personal spending both rose 0.4 percent in March after rising 0.6 percent the previous month, the government said.

"The economic numbers were basically in line this morning, but we've got a lot of economic news coming out this week," said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Global Partners Securities. "Earnings are pretty much over with, and they were pretty mixed, so investors are now looking to see that the economy won't stall in the second quarter before they're going to be willing to buy."

Telecom weakness pushed European bourses lower by the close, while blue-chip losses, particularly in South Korea, dragged Asian markets to a lower finish. The dollar was a little higher against the yen and the euro.

Gold hovered just below a two-year high at $311.50 an ounce in Chicago, while light crude oil futures rose 41 cents to $27.52 in New York.

Treasurys were lower, pushing the 10-year note yield up to 5.11 percent.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners beat advancers 9-to-7 as 1.25 billion shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, losers topped winners by 10-to-7 as 1.81 billion shares traded.

Telecoms and biotechs were among the names trading lower, while software, home builders and some traditional big-cap names traded higher.

The Dow industrials moved into largely negative territory, with Boeing (BA: up $2.12 to $43.63, Research, Estimates) the most notable of the few gainers. Merrill Lynch upped its rating on the aircraft maker to "strong buy" from "buy" following a Barron's article saying the company was undervalued.

Component Wal-Mart Stores also got a boost after a bullish note out of Prudential.

But shares of Dow component and media company Walt Disney were lower after a published report said the company is making some changes to its corporate governance practices and has hired an outside consultant to review the changes. Investors also continued to respond to the company's quarterly report, released late last week. And late Friday, Fox Entertainment Group said it will pull out of Movies.com, its planned movies-on-demand joint venture with Disney, after deciding the venture was not "appropriate" for the moment.

All in all, 22 components of the Dow industrials closed lower.

Telecoms traded lower on sector weakness following a published report saying that at least six states are investigating whether troubled telecom Qwest Communications (Q: down $0.79 to $4.96, Research, Estimates) made deals with rivals to keep quiet about expansion. WorldCom (WCOM: down $0.92 to $2.35, Research, Estimates) shares sold on continued debt worries.

Shares of conglomerate Tyco International (TYC: down $2.90 to $17.00, Research, Estimates) were the most active on the New York Stock Exchange, continuing a drop that began last week when the company ended plans to split into four separate companies, announced more job cuts and warned that its quarterly results will miss expectations. The stock has lost more than 65 percent of its value since January.

Graphics design chip maker nVidia (NVDA: up $5.06 to $35.43, Research, Estimates) was active after the company raised its forecast for first-quarter net income and said it will restate results for the first, second and third quarters of fiscal 2002 as well as all of 2000 and 2001 in response to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. The restatement will result in a net increase in income of about $1.3 million.

The markets are coming off one of the worst weeks since the week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. The Dow started the day at its lowest level in two months, while the Nasdaq was at its lowest level since last October.

"Investors right now are more willing to sell the rally than buy the pullback, which tells you a lot about the sentiment," said Bryan Piskorowski, market commentator at Prudential Securities.