Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was back down below the 13,000 level to trade at 12,993.32, a decline of 0.66 percent, just before 1:30 pm in New York, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.64 percent to 2,489.1 and the S&P 500 was 0.99 percent lower to 1,431.6.
The retail sector was mixed.
Rite-Aid (NYSE: RAD) was even at $4.88, while Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) had dropped 25 cents to $43.24.
Home improvement retailers, however, saw gains after Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) reported that its earnings were at 67 cents per share in the second quarter, against expected earnings of 61 cents per share.
Despite dropping its forecasts for the third quarter and the full year, Lowe’s added $1.51 to $28.38, while rival Home Depot (NYSE: HD) gained 19 cents to $33.50.
The financial services sector saw declines.
Troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) was down $1.43 to $20.
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) dropped 61 cents to $36.63, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) fell 84 cents to $61.39, Citigroup (NYSE: C) was 86 cents lower to $47.95 and Bank of America was down 96 cents to $50.80.
JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) fell $1.44 to $45.57, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) was down $1.78 to $56.30, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) dropped $2.01 to $74.03, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was $3.87 lower to $171.13.