At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 63.44 points, or 0.23 percent, to 27,951.62. The S&P 500 was down 2.28 points, or 0.07 percent, to 3,143.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 4.41 points, or 0.05 percent, to 8,652.12.
Of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors, both health care and utilities fell more than 0.3 percent around midday, leading the laggards. Consumer discretionary rose 0.4 percent, becoming the best-performing group.
Wall Street continued to digest the stronger-than-expected jobs data released late last week.
U.S. employers added 266,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 3.5 percent, the lowest in nearly five decades, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This week's highlights include the U.S. consumer price index and Fed announcement on Wednesday and retail sales on Friday.
For the past week, the Dow lost 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.2 percent, and the Nasdaq erased 0.1 percent.
Latest comments