General Electric tumbled 6.3 percent after some research analysts lowered their price targets on the stock, citing higher chances of a dividend cut at the industrial conglomerate.
U.S. Treasury prices rose slightly, tracking gains in the European bond market. Investors added to their positions after a sell-off the last few days ahead of this week's debt auctions and a European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes
Wall Street opened at record highs following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's emphatic win in weekend polls. The victory also sent the dollar to a three-month high against the yen, as investors bet the win would mean a continuation of "Abenomics," the ultra-loose policies that have kept downward pressure on the yen.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.16 percent versus the greenback at 113.35 yen per dollar
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 54.67 points, or 0.23 percent, to end at 23,273.96, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 10.23 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2,564.98 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 42.23 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,586.83.
Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial, headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, said the market is not down in a "meaningful" way, but taking a pause.
"This is the week for earnings," she said. "The market basically wants to ascertain that they’re going to see top-line revenue growth and bottom-line performance before they commit themselves."
Corporate earnings have gotten off to a strong start, with 73.2 percent of the 97 S&P companies beating profit expectations versus a 72-percent beat rate over the past four quarters.
European STOXX 600 shares <.STOXX> rose 0.16 percent, although Madrid's bourse IBEX <.IBEX> shed 0.6 percent, as Spain's crisis entered another week.
Madrid took the unprecedented step of firing the government of Catalonia on Saturday in a last resort to thwart its push for independence. Catalan leaders called for civil disobedience in response.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> rose 0.11 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> shed 0.28 percent.
Japan's Nikkei <.N225> rose 1.11 percent.Emerging market stocks <.MSCIEF> lost 0.34 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> closed 0.23 percent lower.
Argentina's stocks jumped as investors bet a strong electoral performance from President Mauricio Macri's coalition could boost his reform agenda.
Argentina's benchmark Merval index <.MERV> rose 3.1 percent.
Gold prices touched a more than two-week low before paring losses as chart signals helped offset pressure from a stronger dollar and an early advance in equities.
Spot gold
(Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru, Richard Leong and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York and Jan Harvey and Georgina Prodhan in London; Editing by Daniel Bases and James Dalgleish)
By Stephanie Kelly