U.S. stocks decline on falling oil prices

U.S. stocks ended lower after wavering in a tight range Monday, as a decline in oil prices weighed on Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 77.79 points, or 0.42 percent, to 18,493.06. The S&P 500 lost 6.55 points, or 0.30 percent, to 2,168.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 2.53 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,097.63.

Oil prices kept falling on Monday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude dropping about 2 percent, as worries about a global supply glut continued to weigh on the market.

Dragged by the falling oil, energy sector, the biggest laggard of the S&P 500's ten sectors, tumbled 1.99 percent Monday.

With no major economic data due Monday, earnings season was also in focus. The coming week is the busiest of the second-quarter earnings season, with key names, including Apple, Facebook and Exxon Mobil, slating for release.

In other corporate news, U.S. telecom carrier Verizon Communications announced Monday that it will acquire U.S. technology company Yahoo's operating business for approximately 4.83 billion U.S. dollars in cash.

Following the news, shares of the former fell 0.41 percent to 55.87 dollars apiece Monday, while shares of the latter slipped 2.69 percent to 38.32 dollars per share.

Meanwhile, investors kept a close eye on the Fed's two-day policy meeting scheduled to begin Tuesday, for more clues on the timing of a next rate hike.

U.S. stocks ran into a record setting stage in the past two weeks, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 refreshing their closing records seven times for 2016, boosted by upbeat economic data and better-than-expected quarterly results from big companies. Endit