NEW YORK, June 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower after wavering between small gains and losses Monday, as investors meditated on a batch of economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.91 points, or 0.10 percent, to 21,184.38. The S&P 500 lost 2.97 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,436.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 10.11 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,295.68.
U.S. economic activity in the non-manufacturing sector grew in May for the 89th consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said Monday.
The ISM's non-manufacturing index registered 56.9 percent in May, which is 0.6 percentage point lower than the April reading of 57.5 percent.
"The ISM non-manufacturing index continues to point to steady growth in the service sector. Even with May's small pullback, ISM non-manufacturing has averaged 56.7 year-to-date, higher than its 54.9 average in 2016," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.
U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in April decreased 0.8 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.2 percent, to 469.0 billion dollars, in line with market consensus, the Commerce Department announced Monday.
Meanwhile, investors were still sifting through the country's weaker-than-expected nonfarm jobs report for May.
U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 138,000 in May, well below market consensus of a 185,000-gain, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate, however, was little changed at 4.3 percent.
Some analysts said the decline in job growth numbers may bring some doubts about likelihood of a rate rise this month.
