Stocks drop after 4 weeks of gains

Stocks fell moderately Monday as investors took a break after four weeks of gains that brought the market to record highs.

Energy companies fell more than the rest of the market as the price of oil took another turn lower. Yahoo shares slid $1.06, or 2.7%, to $38.32 after Verizon Communications announced that it would buy most of the tech giant’s Internet businesses for $4.83 billion.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 77.79 points, or 0.4%, to 18,493.06. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6.55 points, or 0.3%, to 2,168.48 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 2.53 points, or 0.1%, to 5,097.63.

With the slow summer trading season and lack of economic news, traders say there are few reasons to be buying the market right now.

“This is a broad, but benign, sell-off,” said Ryan Larson, head of U.S. equity trading for RBC Global Asset Management.

Larson pointed to the recent price-to-earnings ratio on the S&P 500, or the amount of money that investors are paying for each dollar of earnings. The current figure is nearly 20, far above the 14 to 16 that investors are typically comfortable with.

“It’s another reason why the market looks fatigued at the moment,” he said.

Oil prices continued on their month-long slide. The price of crude fell $1.06, or 2.4%, to close at $43.13 a barrel. U.S. crude oil is down 12% this month. Brent crude, the global benchmark, dropped 97 cents, or 2.1%, to close at $44.72 a barrel .

The Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve will hold policy meetings this week. With Japan’s economy barely growing, economists are speculating about whether its central bank may push more stimulus, probably lowering its interest rate further into negative territory when it announces its decision Friday.

The U.S. economy is in better shape than other advanced economies, but expectations are that the Fed will hold interest rates steady and look to raise interest rates later this year. The Fed’s two-day meeting starts Tuesday.

Tech firms will dominate quarterly earnings news this week, including results from Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. Their reports are also likely to heavily impact trading this week.

The 2% drop in oil prices dragged down major energy companies. Chevron lost $2.59, or 2.5%, to $103.07 and Exxon Mobil gave up $1.81, or 2%, to $92.20.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 1.57%. The dollar fell to 105.85 yen from 106.17 yen. The euro rose to $1.0989 from $1.0961.

The price of gold fell $3.90 to $1,319.50 an ounce, silver fell 4 cents to $19.65 an ounce and copper fell 2 cents to $2.22 a pound.