Stock market drifts lower to start the week

The Dow and the S&P 500 have already gained more than 6 percent for the year. The Nasdaq is up 5.7 percent.

In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury hovered at 1.95 percent on Monday, unchanged from late Friday. The yield began the year trading at 1.70 and has moved steadily higher as worries about a recession have dissipated, drawing traders out of the Treasury market, the world's biggest hiding spot.

Among other companies in the news Monday:

— Loews Corp. said Monday morning that it lost $32 million in its fourth quarter, hurt by insurance losses from Superstorm Sandy and sliding prices for natural gas. The holding company, which has dealings in insurance, oil and gas and hotels, is largely controlled by the Tisch family of New York. Its stock sank 34 cents to $43.51.

— Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk dropped 14 percent. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration refused to approve the company's proposed diabetes treatments until it received more data, which the drug maker said it couldn't supply this year. Novo Nordisk's depositary receipts lost $26.89 to $165.40.

— Carnival Corp., the cruise-ship operator, sank 29 cents to $38.72. An engine room fire over the weekend left its cruise ship Triumph stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said Monday that the ship's automatic extinguishing systems put out the fire and that nobody was injured.