Techs lead retreat
Major gauges give up early rally attempt, hurt by metal, oil, tobacco stocks; oil off.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks gave back early gains and slipped into the red Monday as falling oil and gold prices sparked selling in the underlying stocks and investors eyed a setback for big tobacco companies.

The Nasdaq composite (down 4.58 to 2,214.35, Charts) lost 0.3 percent around an hour into the session, giving back early gains.

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The Dow Jones industrial average (down 3.53 to 11,504.57, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (Charts) index both hovered just below unchanged.

Stocks slipped on Thursday and Friday of last week, with investors bailing out after an earlier rally, amid worries about the speed of the economic slowdown.

After that pullback, investors initially tried to dig back in Monday morning as oil fell below $60 a barrel for the first time in six months. But the gains didn't stick and stocks see-sawed soon after.

Existing home sales fell in August, according to a report released Monday morning, in the latest sign that the housing market is still cooling. The decline for the month was not as steep as economists had predicted, but nonetheless showed continued erosion in the market.

U.S. light crude oil for November delivery fell 80 cents to $59.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, falling to its lowest level in six months.

That sent oil stocks lower, including Exxon Mobil (down $0.59 to $64.32, Charts) and Valero Energy (down $0.96 to $47.23, Charts). The Amex Oil (down 20.71 to 1,018.70, Charts) index fell 1.7 percent.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell $5.70 to $589.70 an ounce.

Gold stocks tumbled in tandem, with the Amex Gold Bugs (down $9.45 to $285.14, Charts) index losing 2.4 percent.

In corporate new, a federal judge on Monday said a potential $200 billion lawsuit against tobacco companies can proceed under class-action status. Philip Morris parent Altria (down $3.33 to $78.99, Charts), a Dow component, and rival Reynolds American (down $1.90 to $60.12, Charts)both sank.

Hewlett-Packard said late Friday that Chairman Patricia Dunn resigned effective immediately amid her role in the company's boardroom leak investigation scandal.

Dunn, who initially had said she would step down in January, will be replaced by chief executive Mark Hurd. Dunn is also leaving HP's board. HP (up $0.43 to $35.54, Charts) shares were little changed Monday morning.

Stock gains were broad-based, with 25 out of 30 Dow issues rising.

Treasury prices rose for a third session Monday, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.56 percent from 4.59 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and was little changed versus the yen.


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.