Stocks Fall Further Early Monday

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are mixed Monday as technology companies continue to slump and the Commerce Department said retail sales remained sluggish in September. The S&P 500 and other major U.S. indexes are coming off their worst week since late March as investors worry about rising interest rates and trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Bank of America dropped after it reported disappointing growth in loans.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index slid 14 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,752 as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 69 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,270. The Nasdaq composite dropped 75 points, or 1 percent, to 7,422. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 2 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,544 and is on track for its eighth loss in a row.

The S&P 500 rallied Friday but lost 4.1 percent last week, its biggest decline in more than six months. It's fallen for three weeks in a row.

TECH FALLS AGAIN: The technology companies that have led the market higher in recent years, including some of the world's most valuable companies, continued to decline. Apple gave up 1.5 percent to $218.88 and Microsoft slumped 1.3 percent to $108.12. Software maker Adobe fell 2.9 percent to $241.66 and chipmaker Nvidia skidded 2.1 percent to $241.28.

The S&P 500 index of technology companies has dropped 8.1 percent since setting a record high on Oct. 3. The Nasdaq, which has a high concentration of tech stocks, is down 8.5 percent since late August.

Internet companies continued to sink as well. Netflix, which will report its results Tuesday, lost 3.5 percent to $327.64. Alphabet, Google's parent company, fell 1.5 percent to $1,103.59.

SLOW LOANS: Bank of America's third-quarter profit and revenue were better than analysts expected, but Wall Street was disappointed with the company's loan growth. The company has emphasized responsible growth recently, and like other banks, it's benefiting from last year's corporate tax cut and rising interest rates. Its stock slid 1.7 percent to $27.99. Competitor Wells Fargo also reported weak loan growth on Friday.

D-FENSE: Defense contractors L3 Technologies and Harris Corp. said they will combine in an-all stock deal. The combined L3 Harris Technologies will have annual sales of around $16 billion this year, which would make it the sixth-largest U.S. defense contractor and one of the top 10 globally.

L3 gained 8.9 percent to $213.26 and Harris rose 8.2 percent to $167.53.

RETAIL WOBBLE: U.S. consumer spending edged up 0.1 percent in September, according to the Commerce Department. That was disappointing result, as in which rebounding auto sales were offset by weakness in other areas. Sales also grew just 0.1 percent in August, and the current stretch is the weakest two-month performance since the start of the year. Economists projected a solid 0.6 percent rise in sales

Retails were broadly lower. Amazon fell 2.5 percent to $1,743.72 and Dollar Tree declined 1.2 percent to $80.15. Video game maker Activision Blizzard rose 3.4 percent to $75.26.

ENERGY: U.S. crude slipped 0.3 percent to $71.11 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, lost 0.1 percent to $80.34. Natural gas prices continued to surge as the weather in the U.S. grew colder. It rose 1.9 percent to $3.22 per 1,000 cubic feet and has climbed 7 percent in October.

BONDS: Bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.15 percent from 3.14 percent late Friday.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 111.73 yen from 112.01 yen. The euro rose to $1.1586 from $1.1563.

OVERSEAS: France's CAC 40 lost 0.2 percent while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent. Germany's climbed 0.4 percent.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 1.9 percent and the South Korean Kospi edged down 0.8 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.5 percent.

(BE)