Stocks Get Quick Boost From Services Report

Stocks briefly pared their losses after a report showed improvement in the service sector.

The ISM reported its gauge of the service sector improved to 47 in June from 44 in May, the best reading in nine months. The index shows the sector is still in contraction mode, though it's moving ever closer to the 50 mark, which indicates expansion in the industry.

Still, disappointment from the dismal jobs report last Thursday lingered and stocks quickly resumed their descent — even after the three-day holiday weekend in the U.S.

Employers slashed 467,000 jobs from nonfarm payrolls in June and the unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percent to 9.5 percent. Economists had expected a much smaller job loss of 365,000 but a slightly higher unemployment rate of 9.6 percent.

"The jobs report was weaker than expected and it throws a little cold water on the economic-rebound story," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategest at RidgeWorth Capital Management. "I think the market is growing a little impatient with less-bad reports — The market was hoping for less-bad and it got worse than bad."

Comments from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden over the weekend fueled investors concerns: Biden said the Obama administration "misread" the depth of the economic troubles it inherited.

Investors are now focused on earnings season, which kicks off this week with a report from Dow component Alcoa after the bell Wednesday. Economists expect a third straight loss from the aluminum giant.

Alcoa was the biggest decliner on the Dow Monday, followed by Bank of America and Caterpillar .

Bank of America eclipsed

UBS

as the

world's top wealth manager

, according to a survey by specialist consultancy Scorpio Partnership, but the survey indicated another tough year for the industry.

Bank of America also approved about $713 million in dividend payments to the government on the $15 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds the bank received.

ExxonMobil and Chevron were also pretty big drags on the Dow as oil prices plunged Monday. The price of US light, sweet crude dropped more than $3 to below $64 a barrel as concerns mounted over the strength of consumers.

Shares of General Motors skidded. A bankruptcy judge approved the sale of GM's assets to the "new GM," backed by the government, clearing the path for automaker to get out of bankruptcy protection quickly.

Wells Fargo plans to expand its securities business, according to a Wall Street Journal report that said Wells Fargo Securities would offer merger advice, stock and bond underwriting, loan syndications and fixed-income trading.

Asian and European stocks fell as worries over earnings season came to the forefront.

Investors will focus later this week on a meeting of the G8 industrial nations. The summit was expected to highlight signs that economies were stabilizing, but emphasize that it was too early yet to withdraw policy stimulus.

And President Barack Obama arrived in Russia for a summit with President Dmitry Medvedev, during which John Deere , PepsiCo and Boeing will announce more than $1.5 billion worth of deals in the country.

In other corporate news, global miner Rio Tinto agreed on Monday to sell its Americas food-packaging assets for $1.2 billion to packaging group Bemis , raising yet more much-needed cash for the indebted miner. Rio shares dropped 5.6 percent premarket.

— Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk, contributed to this report.

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