The stocks at the Wall Street declined on Monday amid rising fears of poor US first-quarter earnings due to the strong dollar and lower prices of crude oil.

Nine out of the 10 S&P 500 sectors dropped, led by a 1.1 percent drop in S&P industrials. General Electric shares declined 3.1 percent to USD 27.63 after rallying on Friday, when the company said that it has the potential to return over USD 90 billion to the investors by 2018. 3M Co shares fell 0.7 percent at USD 165.84.

The greenback was last up 0.1 percent compared to a basket of major currencies after hitting a 99.99 peak. This was the highest level recorded in four weeks period. A stronger dollar tends to hurt the profits for the American multinationals. The crude oil in the United States edged higher but significant losses since last year have weighed on the results of the energy companies.

John Carey, portfolio manager at Boston-based Pioneer Investment Management, said, “We’re all waiting on earnings, which are going to be coming fast and furious as we move through the week. I think there is some trepidation about what the earnings announcements are going to look like and so investors are cautious.”

According to Carey, most people are hoping for weak earnings due to the strong greenback, reduced crude oil prices and sluggish consumer spending in the country due to the harsh winters.

The S&P 500 fell 0.46 percent, or 9.63 points, to 2,092.43, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.45 percent, or 80.61 points, to 17,977.04. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.15 percent, or 7.73 points, to 4,988.25.

The Nasdaq traded briefly above 5,000, coming within 110 points of its life-time intraday high.

The Nasdaq Composite posted 104 new highs and 24 new lows, while the S&P 500 recorded 24 new 52-week highs and no new lows.

Nearly 5.4 billion shares changed hands at the American stock exchanges, below the daily average of 6 billion for the last five sessions, as per BATS Global Markets.