But the market's overall direction was downward. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 4.09 billion shares compared with a heavy 5.15 billion seen Friday, when stocks fell sharply and several types of options contracts expired.

Bond prices were narrowly mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was at 4.17 percent, the same as late Friday. The dollar rose against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

"You've got the Fed and some key economic reports coming out this week, especially with housing, and that has kept things quiet," said Todd Salamone, director of trading at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "People are going to be on the sidelines to see what the next Fed action or words are."

The modest moves Monday followed a rough week that ended with a sharp pullback Friday amid worries about the financial and automotive sectors and a resurgence in oil prices. The major indexes dropped by more than 1.5 percent Friday, and the Dow fell more than 200 points to close at its lowest level since March.

The financial sectors' woes continue: Citigroup Inc. is in the midst of cutting its investment banking staff by 10 percent, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is also eliminating jobs, The Financial Times reported. Citigroup fell 75 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $18.55, and Goldman fell $5.18, or 2.8 percent, to $178.59.

Amato contends that troubles in sectors like the financials are severe enough that they will spill over to other areas of the economy and send the broader stock market lower.

"You can't have a functioning economy with all the banks under that much extreme pressure," he said.