NEW YORK, April 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday, as the market was weighed down by several large aircraft stocks and investors are closely watching a new corporate earnings season to kick off.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122.66 points, or 0.46 percent, to 26,302.33. The S&P 500 was down 5.13 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,887.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 15.25 points, or 0.19 percent, to 7,923.44.
Shares of Boeing declined around 4 percent, after Bank of America Merrill Lynch slashed the U.S. aircraft giant's rating from "buy" to "neutral." Boeing is also in the process of reducing production of its 737 Max jets by 20 percent from 52 a month to 42 a month, the company said Friday.
Shares of American Airlines Group fell over 1 percent, after the company said it would extend flight cancellations through June 5, due to the lingering grounding of Boeing 737 Max planes.
Shares of Southwest Airlines also fell over 1.8 percent, after Raymond James downgraded its rating on the U.S. airline giant to "market perform" from "outperform," given remaining risks as Boeing continued grounding its 737 Max jets.
Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around Monday's opening, with the industrials sector down over 1.1 percent, leading the losers.
U.S. stocks extended gains for the week ending April 5, as the market was backed by upbeat jobs data and progress in U.S.-China trade talks.
The Dow rose 1.91 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 2.06 percent and the Nasdaq gained 2.71 percent for the week.
