The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average ended lower on Monday, with investors waiting for cues from the upcoming corporate earnings season and a key inflation report later this week.

The indexes had closed at record highs on Friday, after rallying for days on a pull back in the benchmark 10-year bondyield from 14-month highs.

With US consumer price data for March due to be published on Tuesday, this could drive Treasury yields higher. Big Wall Street names are due to kick off earnings season on Wednesday,giving new catalysts to buy or sell stocks in a record-high market.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Sunday the US economy was at an "inflection point" with expectations for faster growth in the months ahead, but he warned that a hasty reopening could lead to a continued increase in coronavirus cases.

Banks are among the first to report earnings for the opening quarter of 2021, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo due on Wednesday.

The financials index and consumer discretionary sector both hit record highs on Monday, on confidence in both areas as the US economy reopens.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes, communication services and energy shares were the steepest decliners.

Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.2 points, or 0.16%, to 33,745.4, the S&P 500 lost 0.81 points, or 0.02%, to 4,127.99 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 50.19 points, or 0.36%, to 13,850.00.

Tesla Inc rose 3.7% after Canaccord Genuity upgraded the electric-car maker's shares to "buy," saying the company could become "the brand" in energy storage.

Nvidia Corp jumped 5.6% after saying Monday it would make a server processor chip that would directly challenge Intel Corp. The chipmaker also signposted above-guidance first-quarter sales.

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Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a1.08-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.84-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

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