By Kate Gibson
As the U.S. stock market struggled Monday in the wake of the prior session's losses, technology remained a bright spot after emerging as the only sector to eke out gains last week.
On Monday, tech shares lapsed along with the broader market, but remained the session's best performer among the S&P 500's 10 industry groups, with health care and financials down the most.
After a rise and fall of 100 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was off 80.79 points, or 0.8%, at 9,891.39.
"The financial sector is putting the most pressure on the overall market. There are two major concerns: Bank of America (BAC) will most likely have to raise money to pay back TARP, and over the weekend we certainly added to the list and got over the century mark for the number of banks that have gone under the waves," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) shed 8.83 points, or 0.8%, to 1,070.77, while the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was the last to give up gains, retreating 9.61 points, or 0.5%, to 2,144.86.
As of Friday's close, 62% of S&P 500 component companies reporting their quarterly results had topped analysts' expectations for sales -- and tech's accounted for the best revenues as compared with Wall Street's outlooks. Overall, sales are still on track to drop about 10%, according to Thomson.
"Tech was the only sector to rise last week and is still the best performer year-to-date with a gain of 49.5%," wrote Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist of Yardeni Research Inc., in a Monday note.
Early risers
On Monday, shares of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) continued to rise, recently up 5%, in the wake of the online retailer's strong earnings report on Friday. .
Of the Dow industrials' 30 components, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) was one of three to remain in positive turf, up 2.4% after industry reports of strong sales of the new Windows 7 operating system, released Oct. 22. .
Also bucking the negative trend, shares of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) rose 3% after the maker of storage and communications semiconductors raised its third-quarter revenue forecast. .
"Eight of the 10 S&P 500 sectors are confirming the cyclical rebound in forward earnings, with new record highs for consumer staples and health care. Information technology is showing the best come-from-behind performance," said Yardeni.