New York: US stocks finished lower Monday as geopolitical worries weighed on sentiment during the first trading session of a busy week of corporate earnings reports.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 47.07 points (0.28 percent) to 17,053.11.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 4.49 (0.23 percent) to 1,973.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 7.44 (0.17 percent) to 4,424.70.
All three indices rallied significantly from morning declines that took the S&P 500 as low as 1,965.77.
Western powers have ratcheted up the pressure on Russia over the apparent shooting down of a Malaysian passenger jet over rebel-held east Ukraine, with the US insisting that Moscow force pro-Russian insurgents to cooperate with an international probe into the disaster.
Meanwhile, the death toll continued to rise in Gaza, where Israel has undertaken a ground assault against Hamas.
"The market is high and has been very strong," said Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management. "But there are a lot of problems around too."
Markets were awaiting a stream of major earnings news, including reports early Tuesday from Coca-Cola, DuPont and McDonald`s. Apple and Microsoft were to make their announcement after the market closes Tuesday.
