Insight on the markets, with Debra Borchard, The Street; Keith Wirtz, Fifth Third Asset Management; and CNBC's Rick Santelli & Steve Liesman.
By NBC News wire services
Updated at 4:05 p.m. ET: Stocks closed Monday lower, led by weakness in technology shares, as investors locked in gains on a recent rally ahead of possible policy action from the Federal Reserve this week.
The benchmark S&P 500 index rose 2.2 percent last week to hit highs not seen in nearly five years, and traders were eyeing the 1,440 level on the S&P as the next barrier to further gains. The Nasdaq hit a 12-year high last week.
Shares of Intel fell Monday after several brokerages cut price targets on the chipmaker. Shares of Apple, the world's largest publicly traded company by market value, dropped.
Investors were reluctant to push Wall Street higher before key event risks this week, including a ruling by Germany's constitutional court on Wednesday on the legality of the euro zone's permanent financial rescue fund and a policy decision from the Fed on Thursday.
"The markets are in a wait-and-see mode in the early part of this week," said Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management in New York. "You have to say that the markets are up a lot, so the short-term risks are on the downside."
The Fed looks set to launch a third round of bond purchases this week and economists said Friday's weak report on jobs growth for August was likely to convince the U.S. central bank a looser monetary policy was needed.
Expectations for more stimulus measures from central banks in the United States and Europe have underpinned the markets in recent weeks, but some analysts say a lot of the good news may have already been priced into the market.
Investors sold some big-cap tech names that have done well all year. Worse-than-expected data on imports from China added to selling in the sector.
"Today there is a little pull back, a little profit-taking in technology after last week," said Gary Wedbush, head of trading at regional investment bank Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles. "I would use it as a buying opportunity."
Chinese import data showed a fall of 2.6 percent on the year in August, short of expectations for a 3.5 percent rise. Exports grew 2.7 percent, below forecasts for a 3 percent rise in a Reuters poll.
American International Group slipped after the U.S. Treasury Department said it will sell most of its stake in the insurer, making the government a minority investor for the first time since it rescued the company in the depths of the financial crisis four years ago.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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