Wall Street fell on Monday, hurt by a steep drop oil prices as well as a dip in Apple shares, pushing the S&P 500 back into negative territory for 2015.
The S&P 500 energy sector lost 1.7 percent, easily the worst performer as a 3 percent drop in oil prices led investors to sell unload shares of Exxon Mobil <XOM.N>, down 0.7 percent, and Chevron <CVX.N>, which fell 1.68 percent. [O/R] "It's mostly on crude. That's more the issue than anything else," said Paul Nolte, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.
U.S. stock indexes have closely tracked crude prices in the past several weeks.
Last week, the three major indexes logged their strongest week since mid-November thanks to a short-lived surge in energy stocks. But with Monday's losses, the S&P 500 was down marginally for 2015.
"It's been a real wrestling match this year and some people are okay with the market ending where it is or down a little to give 2016 a little more of a better look," said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities in New York.
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U.S. gasoline futures slid about 2 percent as the selloff extended to refined oil products as well, although heating oil rebounded on expectations of colder weather.
Crude futures slumped in Asian trading as Japanese data showed a 46-year low in oil sales in the world's fourth largest crude buyer. They slid more in the New York session, as some traders reckoned the two-day pre-Christmas rebound, where crude rose about $2 a barrel, had been overdone.
"Volume isn't great, which is typical for this time of year, and most guys are either flat on their books and positioning themselves for a weaker first quarter in 2016," said Tariq Zahir, an oil bear at Tyche Capital Advisors in Long Island, New York.
