Financial stocks fueled Wall Street's rally last week. On Monday, they sent the market into reverse.
Traders sold stocks lower, worrying that the market and financials in particular had risen too quickly since the rally began two months ago. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 156 points.
Some of last week's relief over the reassuring marks most banks earned during government "stress tests" evaporated as investors looked ahead.
But the pullback wasn't across the board and trading was light compared with last week. That suggests many buyers were taking a break, and not that sellers were out in force. And technology shares fared better after Microsoft Corp. moved ahead with its first-ever debt offering.
That had some analysts suggesting that the retreat was a natural pause after a big run, something that could actually be good for a recovering market.
But others are more bearish, saying the rally could unravel because investors are becoming too quick to declare that the economy's problems are receding.
The Dow fell 155.88, or 1.8 percent, to 8,418.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 19.99, or 2.2 percent, to 909.24, while the tech-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 7.76, or 0.5 percent, to 1,731.24.
Even with Monday's slide, the S&P 500 index is up 34.4 percent from early March. however, it is still down 42 percent from its high in October 2007.
Wall Street will continue to keep watch over banks but also will be looking for insights into the health of consumers as traders search for the next catalyst that could continue to pull the market from the 12-year lows of early March.
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