US shares close lower ahead of earnings

AP

(Close): US shares have closed lower as a heavy week of results and economic data gets underway.

The Dow Jones closed down 80.61 points to 17,977.04. The S&P 500 shed 9.63 points to 2,092.43, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 7.73 points to 4,988.25.

The major US banks will be reporting their results this week, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

Companies including Intel and General Electric will also report.

General Electric was the day's biggest loser on the Dow, shedding more than 3%. The company said last Friday that it would offload most of its banking business, sending shares up 11%.

Netflix was the biggest riser on the S&P 500, up 4.4%, following an upgrade by UBS from "neutral" to "buy". The video streaming company is worth almost $27bn (£18.4bn).

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department releases retail sales data for March, and inflation figures are out on Friday.