Stocks Start Week in Reverse

Breadth and volume were poor to start the week. On the New York Stock Exchange 3.28 billion shares changed hands, as decliners toppled advancers by a 9-to-7 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.94 billion shares, with losers beating winners 3 to 2.

Art Hogan, chief market analyst with Jefferies, said that despite a weak close and low volume, there were still positives to take away from the session.

"There was very little input today, so it is good to see we didn't give up anything after last week's run-up," said Hogan. "As the week wears on, with more economic data to come, it is positive there wasn't a flood of people heading to the exits."

Among corporate news, E*Trade Financial (ETFC Quote) weighed on sentiment as shares slid 10.7% to $4.11 after Bank of America downgraded the company to sell from hold and slashed its stock price target to $2 from $9.

The downgrade comes after Citadel Investment Group poured $2.55 billion into the embattled online brokerage last week. Shares of E*Trade have now dropped nearly 60% over the last month.

Financials were among the worst-performing sectors. The KBW Bank Index ended down 1%, the NYSE Financial Sector Index was off 0.8%, and the Amex Financial Sub Index dipped 0.1%. Retail, housing and transportation subsector indices also closed lower.