U.S. stocks retreat from Friday's rally

U.S. stocks snipped earlier gains to close lower Monday, as investors took a breather after the Dow Jones Industrial Average capped its largest daily gains in seven months on Friday.

The Dow fell 17.72 points, or 0.10 percent, to 16,991.97. The S& P 500 lost 3.06 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,964.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 20.82 points, or 0.47 percent, to 4,454.80.

The market opened higher before waving between gains and losses in the afternoon session, as investors weighed upbeat U.S. economic data against the possibility of an earlier than expected rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve which is slated to release minutes of its latest policy meeting Wednesday

Last Friday, official data showed that U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment added 248,000 last month and jobless rates slipped to an over six-year low of 5.9 percent, providing a strong boost to Wall Street, with major stock indices jumping over one percent.

With a relatively light economic calendar for the week, investors will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming corporate earnings season which the biggest U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa is scheduled to unofficially kick off by unveiling its third-quarter financial results on Wednesday.

On corporate news, Hewlett-Packard's shares rose 4.74 percent to 36.87 U.S. dollars apiece as the company planned to split into two new publicly traded companies, one comprising its personal computer and printing businesses and the other comprising its enterprise technology infrastructure, software and service businesses.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement with Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. to sell the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel to the Chinese insurer. In response, shares of Hilton Worldwide reversed earlier gains to edge down 0.45 percent to 24.21 dollars apiece.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, climbed up 6.25 percent to end at 15.46.

In other markets, the dollar retreated against other major currencies Monday as investors were waiting for the Fed's minutes.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.2619 dollars from 1.2511 dollars in the previous session. The greenback bought 109.01 Japanese yen, lower than 109.84 yen of the previous session.

Crude prices rebounded as traders started to buy after the prices declined significantly last week.

Light, sweet crude for November moved up 60 cents to settle at 90.34 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on a weaker dollar.

The most active gold contract for December delivery rose 14.4 dollars, or 1.21 percent, to settle at 1,207.3 dollars per ounce.