By DPA,
New York : US stocks closed lower Monday, led by retailers as crude oil climbed above $120 per barrel.
Shares in Yahoo plummeted 15 percent, the most in nearly two years, after software giant Microsoft abandoned its $50-billion bid for the Internet company, leading technology stocks lower.
Crude oil for June delivery closed at $119.97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after reaching $120.36 earlier. A stock index of retailers dropped 2.4 percent.
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, in an interview with Bloomberg News, said the US was in a recession that could potentially last until the end of the year.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 88.66 points or 0.68 percent to 12,969.54. The broader Standard & Poor 500 Index was down 6.41 points or 0.45 percent to 1,407.49. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 12.87 points or 0.52 percent, to 2,464.12.
The dollar fell to 64.53 euro cents from 64.82 euro cents on Friday, and to 104.83 Japanese yen from 105.35 yen.