NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks slipped Monday, at the start of a busy week on Wall Street, as investors retreated after the recent rally, finding little comfort in a slide in oil, gas and gold prices.

A weaker dollar added to the session's troubles, while falling Treasury bond yields provided some support.

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The Nasdaq composite (down 9.48 to 2,333.38, Charts) lost 0.4 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 3.17 to 1,308.11, Charts) index lost around 0.2 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 11.13 to 11,336.32, Charts) lost 0.1 percent, recovering from earlier declines. The blue-chip average closed at a six-year high Friday.

After the tremendous run stocks have had, investors were stepping back a bit Monday, said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Legg Mason.

The modest pullback in oil and gas prices was doing little to allay broader concerns, he said. "Oil is still above $70 a barrel, gas prices are around $3 and we're looking at the start of the summer driving season and the start of the Hurricane season in June."

Stocks had managed to rise over the last few weeks, seemingly in spite of the rise in commodities and interest rates, but now the backdrop is starting to take center stage, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.

"Earnings are still the engine and the market is not overvalued, but the environment we are in is creating pressure," Ablin said.

Investors may have also been skittish at the start of a very busy week for Wall Street.

Economic reports due this week include the first look at first-quarter economic growth - forecast to surge to around 5 percent from 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, around a third of the S&P 500 reports earnings this week, including 6 Dow components.

After the close, Sun Microsystems reported a wider fiscal third-quarter loss. Separately, the company said CEO Scott McNealy would step down immediately as chief executive, handing over the CEO title to the company's president. However, McNealy will keep the chairman title. Sun (Research) shares jumped 8 percent after the close.

Economic reports are due Tuesday on consumer confidence in April and March existing home sales.

Dow components AT&T (Research) and DuPont (Research) report results Tuesday morning.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery fell $1.84 to settle at $73.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a decline of about 2.5 percent, after OPEC agreed to keep its daily output unchanged.

Crude ended the regular session Friday at a record high of $75.17 a barrel and hit $75.35 a barrel during the session Friday.

The decline Monday helped ease some of the worries about rising oil prices, but oil at $73 a barrel isn't exactly comforting to investors, even if it is an improvement from oil at $75 a barrel.

Oil stocks - which have been some of the stock market's bigger gainers over the last few weeks - fell with the commodity. The Amex Oil (down 15.66 to 1,169.58, Charts) index land the Philadelphia Oil Service (Charts) index both lost around 1.3 percent.

COMEX gold for June delivery slumped $11.60 to $623.90 an ounce.

That sent the Amex Gold Bugs (down $4.86 to $368.82, Research) index down by 1 percent.

Ford Motor (down $0.36 to $6.96, Research) slipped five percent and was the New York Stock Exchange's most actively-traded issue after a number of analysts cut their price targets on the automaker. On Friday, Ford reported its biggest quarterly loss in four years.

General Motors (down $0.34 to $21.45, Research) slipped too.

Xerox (down $0.80 to $14.00, Research) shares fell after the company reported a weaker first-quarter profit and earnings that missed analysts' estimates. The company also issued a fiscal second-quarter earnings forecast that sets the midpoint of the range below analysts' estimates.

Dow component American Express (down $0.47 to $51.78, Research) reported quarterly earnings that rose from a year ago and beat estimates on revenue that rose from a year ago and missed estimates. Shares lost nearly 1 percent.

TD Ameritrade (down $2.09 to $19.41, Research) lost close to 10 percent in active Nasdaq trade after the online broker reported improved quarterly earnings but also issued an earnings forecast for fiscal year 2007 that sets the midpoint below analysts' estimates.

The shares may have also been hit by news that the firm's CEO and some other executives would be selling a combined 5 to 6 million in shares of the company over the next few weeks to diversify their holdings.

Other financial firms slipped too, lowering the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer (Charts) index by 1.4 percent.

Caterpillar (down $0.49 to $77.38, Research) reported quarterly earnings Monday morning that rose from a year ago and beat estimates. The heavy-equipment maker also lifted its fiscal 2006 earnings per share forecast. However, shares of the Dow component ended lower, after see-sawing throughout the session.

A number of large technology shares fell as well, including Cisco Systems (down $0.39 to $20.29, Research) and Dell (down $0.54 to $26.47, Research).

The influential chip sector suffered a setback as well. The Philadelphia Semiconductor (down 3.62 to 514.80, Charts) index, or the SOX, lost 0.9 percent. However, declines has been steeper through the early afternoon, and the recovery helped the broader market improve.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners three to two on volume of 1.51 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by nearly two to one on volume of 1.98 billion shares.

Treasury prices edged higher, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to around 4.98 percent from 5.01 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar slumped after the Group of Seven called for China to revalue its currency, a plan the country's central bank is opposed to. Nonetheless, it caused the yen to surge and the dollar to weaken.

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