Wall Street Can't Shake Losses

Updated from 4:11 p.m. EST

Stocks in New York showed little verve Monday in the kickoff to the first full trading week of 2009.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 81.80 points, or 0.9%, at 8952.89, and the S&P 500 edged lower by 4.35 points, or 0.5%, to 927.45. The Nasdaq was off 4.18, or 0.3%, at 1628.03.

After an inspired performance last week, albeit on light volume, stocks in New York had an apathetic trading day Monday as updates on U.S. auto sales, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the president elect's stimulus program, and scam artist Bernard Madoff played on the market.

"The market is taking a breather" says Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners. This is a heavy week of economic data, with Friday's unemployment data weighing the most, he says, and the market is positioning itself with a cautious attitude.

"Most of the numbers to come out this week are going to be quite ugly -- we shouldn't expect anything but bad news, and the market has priced that in," says Cardillo.

Kicking things off Monday, traders received highly anticipated data from U.S. automakers Chrysler, Ford (F Quote) and General Motors (GM Quote) that evidence the dire state of automakers.

Ford's December sales totaled 134,114 -- down 32% from a year prior, vs. an expectation for a 35% decline. Chrysler's sales fell 53% to 89,813 vehicles. GM said its U.S. December sales fell 31% year over year, not nearly as bad as the Street expectation for a 41% decline. Ford's total 2008 sales declined by 20% vs. a year prior, while GM's plunged 23%.

Ford shares climbed 4.9% to $2.58 GM shares, which added 1.6% to $3.71 Monday, had led the Dow's climbers on Friday after the U.S. government handed over the first $4 billion of a promised $13.4 billion in funding form the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and pledged to inject $5 billion into its auto and mortgage financing arm last week.