Wall Street fell on Monday as investors remained cautious after the Easter holiday and before the start of one of the busiest weeks of earnings season.
The S&P 500 slipped 3 points or 0.1% by 9:43 AM ET (13:43 GMT), while the Dow was down 46 points or 0.2% and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 22 points or 0.3%.
More than a third of S&P 500 companies are expected to report this week.
Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) gained 2% after its earnings for the first quarter were in line with forecasts, while Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB) surged 5% after its financial results came in better than expected.
Energy stocks were higher, boosted by news that the U.S. government is ending its Iranian sanctions waiver. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) rose 1.2%, while Chevron (NYSE:CVX) inched up 0.7% and crude oil jumped 2.3% to $65.57 a barrel.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) fell 1.1% after a New York Times report that the companies South Carolina factory is rife with manufacturing violations, such as debris left in planes. The company denies the allegations.
Elsewhere, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) slipped 0.5%, while semiconductor company Micron (NASDAQ:MU) lost 1.4% and Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) declined 5.9%.
Gold futures inched up 0.1% to $1,277.75 a troy ounce and the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.2% to 96.998.
