A drop in technology stocks pushed the major U.S. indexes lower Monday, with investors remaining concerned about interest rates and quarterly corporate earnings, as Wall Street failed to regain its momentum after last week's sharp losses. U.S. stocks saw their worst weekly losses since March last week as U.S. interest rates jumped to multi-year highs. Both the Dow industrials and broader Standard & Poor's 500 lost 4 percent, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq dropped 3.7 percent. In U.S. economic news, retail sales barely rose in September, increasing 0.1 percent, far below the 0.6 percent expected by economists, as a rebound in motor-vehicle purchases was offset by a plunge in spending in restaurants. The U.S. dollar fell versus a basket of other currencies after the U.S. retail-sales data missed estimates. Gold futures rose on the declining dollar, advancing 0.7 percent to $1,230 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract surged 3.5 percent last week. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.44, or 0.35 percent, to 25,250.55. Twenty of the index's 30 components were lower, led by technology firms Cisco Systems and Apple, which dropped 2.3 and 2.1 percent respectively. Drugstore chain Walgreens led advancers, gaining 1.7 percent. The S&P 500 index fell 16.34, or 0.6 percent, to 2,750.79. Technology dropped more than 1.5 percent, leading declining sectors. Real estate, consumer staples, and utilities led advancing sectors. Bank of America shares fell 0.7 percent after loan growth at the second-biggest U.S. bank lagged rivals in the third quarter. The Nasdaq composite index fell 66.15, or 0.9 percent, to 7,430.74. Apple shares fell after analysts said there were signs of rapidly slowing consumer demand in China. Netflix plummeted 1.9 percent, Google-parent Alphabet dropped 1.6 percent, and Amazon declined 1.5 percent.
