NEW YORK?US stocks closed slightly lower on Monday in listless trade after consumer spending and income data was mostly in line with expectations and investors awaited a key jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 5.29 points (0.05 percent) to finish at 10,138.52.
The tech-rich Nasdaq index fell 2.83 points (0.13 percent) to 2,220.65 and the broad-market S&P 500 index shed 2.19 points (0.20 percent) at 1,074.57.
The three major indices opened lower and spent most of the session in the red amid light volume.
"Traders may be treading cautiously ahead the key US jobs data due out Friday," Charles Schwab & Co. analysts said in a note to clients.
Investors shrugged off a weekend pledge by the leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations to halve their government deficits by 2013.
"This week will be all about the employment report on Friday, light volume and a dwindling audience as the long holiday weekend approaches," said Scott Marcouiller at Wells Fargo Advisors.
The markets will be closed Monday in observance of the Fourth of July Independence Day holiday.
A mixed report on US consumer spending and income came in roughly in line with market expectations.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending, a key driver of US economic growth, rose 0.2 percent in May after being flat in April, while personal income rose 0.4 percent, slowing from a 0.5 percent increase in the previous month.
"People continue to shop cautiously and until spending improves, this recovery will remain anemic," said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.
The economy has been growing since mid-2009 after plunging into recession in December 2007, but the pace slowed to an annual rate of 2.7 percent in the first three months of the year from 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter.
Among stocks in focus, Apple gained 0.60 percent at $268.30 after announcing it sold more than 1.7 million new iPhone 4s in its first three days on the market. Chief executive Steve Jobs called it "the most successful product launch in Apple's history."
Oil and gas drilling contractor Noble Corporation leaped 2.46 percent to $30.00. The company plans to buy privately held Frontier Drilling for $2.16 billion.
Goldman Sachs tumbled 2.15 percent to $136.66. Goldman was ordered by federal authorities to pay $20.6 million to investors in a hedge fund that collapsed who accused the investment bank of turning a blind eye to the fund's fraud.
Tobacco shares surged after the Supreme Court rejected a government appeal, which could have led to the major companies paying $280 billion. Altria Group added 3.25 percent at $20.34 and Reynolds American vaulted 4.05 percent to $53.45.
Another Supreme Court decision, upholding gun ownership rights, boosted gunmakers Smith & Wesson, up 5.85 percent at $4.34, and Sturm, Ruger & Co., 2.19 percent higher at $15.39.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond dropped to 3.032 percent from 3.113 percent on Friday while that of the 30-year bond slipped to 4.013 percent from 4.071 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
