Hotel Operators Lag

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 22.71 points, or 0.2%, at 12197.88, snapping a three-day winning streak. The Dow's decline was led by Home Depot, which fell 77 cents, or 2.1%, to $36.65, after the retailer announced it would sell a $2 billion debt offering.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 12.38, or 0.5%, to 2730.68. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index shed 3.61, or 0.3%, to 1310.19.

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Stocks slid in late trading Monday, on day of unusually light volume. Only 3.3 billion shares traded hands in New York Stock Exchange Composite volume.

Consumer discretionary stocks lagged, weighed by a 6.3% drop in Marriott International after the hotel operator said it has had robust demand internationally but North American growth has been lower than expected during the first quarter. Marriott also expects first-quarter worldwide revenue per available room -- a key industry metric -- to increase 7%, at the low end of guidance it had released earlier, sending shares down 2.36 to 35.30. Peer Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide also weakened, closing down 3.37, or 5.7%, to 55.37.

However, the telecommunications sector gained after Robert W. Baird said it has "increased confidence" that AT&T's proposed merger with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA will pass regulatory muster, helping AT&T shares rise 51 cents, or 1.8%. to 29.36. Baird also said the deal could "benefit meaningfully" Verizon Communications, which gained 46 cents, or 1.2%, to 37.75; Metro PCS Communications, which rose 25 cents, or 1.6%, to 15.79; and Leap Wireless, which added 33 cents, or 2.2%, to 15.35.

Before the late afternoon slump, U.S. stocks got a mild boost from a reported 0.7% rise in consumer spending last month -- its the biggest increase since October and slightly better than economists' forecasts. Personal income rose by 0.3%, according to the Commerce Department. The savings rate, meanwhile, slid to 5.8%.

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Separately, pending sales of existing homes rose 2.1% in February, according to the National Association of Realtors' index, surprising economists who had expected a 0.2% rise.

"Looking at the data overall, things seem to be getting marginally better," said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer of multi-asset strategies at ING Investment Management.