Stocks begin the week with losses

NEW YORK - Industrial and technology companies stumbled Monday as U.S. stocks began the week with losses. General Electric suffered its worst one-day loss in six years following downgrades from analysts.

After a mixed start, stocks turned lower in afternoon trading. GE's struggles weighed on industrial companies, while big technology companies such as Facebook and Alphabet sank. Toy companies Hasbro and Mattel tumbled after Hasbro's sales forecast disappointed Wall Street, and familiar consumer companies such as Amazon and McDonald's also slumped. Investors did far more selling than buying as a seven-day winning streak ended. It was the worst day for stocks in about seven weeks, but it was still a fairly small decline..

"We have never seen the level of calm and the level of strength combined that we've seen," said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Investment Management. "Investors are kind of willing to just trust it."

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 10.23 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,564.98. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 54.67 points, or 0.2 percent, to 23,273.96. The Nasdaq composite dropped 42.23 points, or 0.6 percent, to 6,586.83. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks sank 11.75 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,497.49.

General Electric took its biggest single-day loss since August 2011 after analysts at UBS and Morgan Stanley lowered their ratings on its stock. GE stock has been slumping all year, but it had edged higher Friday as investors reacted positively to the conglomerate's third-quarter results. Analysts were less optimistic Monday, as Christopher Belfiore of UBS cut his 2018 and 2019 profit estimates for GE and said it's likely to reduce its dividend payments.

The stock fell $1.51, or 6.3 percent, to $22.32. It is down 29 percent this year.

Other consumer-focused companies also declined. Under Armour fell 63 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $16.85 after the Wall Street Journal reported that cofounder Kip Fulks plans to take a sabbatical from the company, and that Under Armour may exit its camping and hiking apparel business. Amazon slipped $16.63, or 1.7 percent, to $966.30.

The S&P closed at an all-time high every day last week. According to S&P Dow Jones indices, that hadn't happened since March 1998. Hackett said the steady rally over the last year has been similar to the market's rally in 1994-95, when the U.S. was recovering from the early '90s recession and pro-business Republicans took control of Congress.

Benchmark U.S. crude added 6 cents to $51.90 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 38 cents to $57.37 a barrel in London.

Gold inched up 40 cents to $1,280.90 an ounce. Silver remained at $17.08 an ounce. Copper rose 2 cents to $3.19 a pound.

The dollar rose to 113.73 yen from 113.50 yen. The euro fell to $1.173 from $1.1780.