Wall Street Follows Dow Chemical Lower

"All that said, and with another holiday-shortened week, we wouldn't be surprised to see a repeat of last week, with volatility continuing to drift lower into the end of the year as equities and the broad market make little movement," Salamone notes.

Overseas, European exchanges such as the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt edged higher after Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended with gains.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were mixed. The 10-year note was rising 5/32 to yield 2.1%, and the 30-year was falling 28/32, yielding 2.6%. The dollar was weaker against the euro and pound, and stronger against the yen.