Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 26, 2022.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 26, 2022. Reuters / BRENDAN MCDERMID

Wall Street stocks declined on Monday on a slide in bank stocks and shares of Apple, after a report said the company plans to slow hiring and spending growth next year.

The S&P 500 financial sector was down 0.16% despite earnings from big banks beating profit expectations.

Apple shares reversed course to trade down 1.8% at $147.4 on a Bloomberg report that said the company plans to slow hiring and spending growth next year in some units to cope with a potential economic downturn.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc advanced 2.1% as it reported a smaller-than-expected 48% slump in second-quarter profit, helped by strength in its fixed-income trading. Bank of America Corp also rose 0.34% after beating analysts' estimates for quarterly profit.

"Financials have generally been better or at least better than feared so far," said Zachary Hill, head of portfolio strategy at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina, referring to U.S. earnings trends.

Worries about a larger one percentage point rate hike at the end of July eased following remarks from Fed officials last week that the policymakers could stick to a 75 basis point hike.

"The main ... big macro driver that's been on everyone's lips for the last six or so months ... is inflation and what the Fed is going to do," said Hill, noting the market recovered slightly as investors dialed back expectations on the Fed's interest hike.

At 3:08 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 71.92 points, or 0.23%, to 31,216.34, the S&P 500 lost 15.63 points, or 0.40%, to 3,847.53 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 55.17 points, or 0.48%, to 11,397.25.

Four out of 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 rose, with the

energy sector leading the gain by adding 2.2%.

Earnings from big technology companies next week will be closely watched, after their shares came under immense selling pressure through much of this year.

Among other shares, Boeing Co jumped 0.9% after Delta Air Lines Inc said it would buy 100 MAX 10 jets worth about $13.5 billion at list prices and had options to buy another 30. Shares of Delta jumped 4.0%.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.01-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, a 1.40-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 30 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and 53 new lows.