NEW YORK — U.S. stocks slumped on Monday as investors looked ahead to a flood of earnings reports this week.
Stocks appeared headed for new highs in the morning, but drifted lower in the afternoon as health care companies dropped sharply. Mylan, a maker of generic drugs, slumped nearly 6 percent. It was a downbeat note after strong gains last week, capped by a new record in the Nasdaq composite, 15 years after its dot-com era peak.
With little news moving markets, “I think we have some profit-taking here,” said chief stock strategist Phil Orlando of Federated Investors as stocks started dropping in the afternoon.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42.17 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 18,037.97. The S&P 500 index fell 8.77 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,108.92. The Nasdaq fell 31.84 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,060.25. The drops were broad, with seven of the 10 industry sectors of the S&P 500 down for day.
One bright spot was Dow index component DuPont, which rose 4.6 percent after activist investor Nelson Peltz gained a powerful backer Monday in his effort to split the chemical maker into two companies.
