U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday, as Wall Street tried to rebound from last week's sharp decline amid diving oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.12 points, or 0.32 percent, to 16,398.57. The S&P 500 inched up 1.64 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,923.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.64 points, or 0.12 percent, to 4,637.99.
Last week, the three major indices posted steep losses, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq plummeting 6.2 percent, 6.0 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.
Oil prices plummeted on Monday following last week's rout, with both the U.S. oil and Brent crude plunging more than 5 percent, as worries about a global supply glut persisted. The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery moved down 1. 75 dollars to settle at 31.41 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery decreased 2 dollars to close at 31.55 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Dragged by the slumping oil prices, the energy sector tumbled 2. 09 percent as the biggest loser among the S&P 500's ten sectors. Meanwhile, with no major economic data due out Monday, investors were still sifting through Friday's jobs report. U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 292,000 in December, well above market estimates of 200,000, and unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent.
Overseas, Chinese stocks nosedived on weak market sentiment Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sinking 5.33 percent, after the suspension of the stock market "circuit breaker" mechanism from last Friday. European equities also pared early gains to close lower on Monday, with British benchmark FTSE 100 Index decreasing 0.69 percent, as concerns over commodities dampened investor sentiment.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 10.03 percent to end at 24.30 Monday.
In other markets, the U.S. dollar was mixed against most major currencies on Monday amid stronger-than-expected jobs growth in the United States. In late New York trading, the euro moved down to 1.0875 dollars from 1.0902 dollars in the previous session. The dollar bought 117. 5 Japanese yen, lower than 117.67 yen of the previous session. Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Monday, with the most active gold contract for February delivery going down 1.7 dollars, or 0.15 percent, to settle at 1,096.20 dollars per ounce.
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