NEW YORK — Stocks were lower for a fourth straight day Monday, with banks and energy companies leading the decline. Worries about a slowing economy also continued to weigh on the broader market.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 61.30 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,089.96. The Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 13.99 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,286.17. It was the first time the S&P index closed below 1,300 since March 23. The Nasdaq composite fell 30.22, or 1.1 percent, to 2,702.56.
The S&P is more than 5 percent below its bull-market high reached April 29 and also has fallen through some other low points.
“The intraday support was really at the February and April intraday lows around 1,293. Traders will be looking for a violation of this support to perhaps trigger some stop-loss selling,” said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. After 1,293, the next target is 1,275, Pado said.
Elliot Spar, market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., cautioned that “when a well-advertised number is breached on the upside or downside, you always have to be on alert for a potential reversal.”
“The market finds a way of humbling the most participants,” he said.
Losses came across the stock market. All 10 industry groups in the S&P index fell. Energy and financial companies each lost 2 percent.
The biggest U.S. banks each declined 2 percent or more, following a speech by a Federal Reserve board member Friday that indicated banks may be required to set aside more cash to cover potential losses. If the proposal were to take effect, banks would be left with less money to lend, which could hurt their earnings. Citigroup and Bank of America each lost more than 4 percent, and JPMorgan Chase dropped 2.5 percent.
Airline stocks dropped after an industry group cut its profit estimates for this year by half. The group blamed disasters in Japan, unrest in the Middle East and higher fuel prices. Delta and American airlines each lost more than 3 percent.
Investors also remained focused on Friday’s grim unemployment report. The dismal jobs report sent stocks sharply lower Friday.
“Wall Street came back, quickly and very strongly, at a time when the populace was still weak in terms of low job growth and low wage growth,” said Daniel Penrod, a senior industry analyst at California Credit Union League. “That appeared to be overly optimistic.”
The Labor Department reported that employers added only 54,000 new workers in May. The unemployment rate inched up to 9.1 percent from 9 percent.
