Stocks fell on Monday as market participants paused the month's strong rally coming off of the holiday weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 50 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.20% or -8.91 points to 4,550.43
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.16% or -56.68 points to 35,333.47
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.07% or -9.83 points to 14,241.02
In the news on Monday, Black Friday e-commerce spending rose 7.5% year-over-year to total a record $9.8 billion in the United States, according to Adobe Analytics. Notably, $79 million on the sales came from 'Buy Now, Pay Later' flexible loans, up 47% from last year, as consumers push the limits of their wallets to continue spending this holiday season.
"We've seen a very strategic consumer emerge over the past year where they're really trying to take advantage of these marquee days, so that they can maximize on discounts," said Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement.
E-commerce stocks like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), as well as BNPL names like Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) rose on Monday as Cyber Monday sales are expected to total between $12 billion and $12.4 billion, according to Adobe Analytics.
Despite the session's weakness, the S&P 500 is up 7.5% for far this month, while the Dow has advanced nearly 7% and the Nasdaq has gained 10.8%.
In economic news, sales of new U.S. single-family homes totaled a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 679,000 in October, according to the Commerce Department's report on Monday, posting a 5.6% decline from September and coming in below analysts' estimates. Still, October's total represented a 17.7% increase year-over-year.
In single-stock news, iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) shares came under pressure on Monday after the European Commission said in a statement that it has notified Amazon of its "preliminary view that its proposed acquisition of iRobot may restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners." The e-commerce giant first announced plans to buy the robot vacuum cleaner in an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion.
KBW analyst Christopher McGratty warned in a Nov. 19 note that banks with between $80 billion and $120 billion in assets are at risk for potential acquisitions by a larger rival, CNBC reports on Monday, with his reasoning being due to this group having the lowest structural returns among firms with at least $10 billion in assets. McGratty added that Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) and First Horizon (NYSE: FHN) may ultimately be purchased by a more profitable competitor.
Looking ahead, investors will react to Tuesday's consumer confidence report.