By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks fell Monday, retreating after last week's big rally, as investors digested President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan, monthly auto sales and surging oil prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 0.9%. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index shed 0.5% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) slid 0.3%.

Even with some losses Monday, "the market has a better tone to it," said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities. He noted that while the major gauges are lower, the broader market is higher, with winners topping losers on the New York Stock Exchange. On the Nasdaq, winners and losers were roughly even.

Stocks rallied Friday, with the Dow closing above 9,000 for the first time in two months, as investors pulled money out of bonds and put it to work in beaten-down equities.

Stocks are coming off a classic end-of-year "Santa Claus" rally. According to the Stock Trader's Almanac, a combination of the last five trading days of the previous year and the first two of the next, have yielded an average return of 1.5% for the S&P 500 since 1950. The S&P 500 gained 7.4% during that period in 2008-2009.

"On Friday, we had the best first-day-of-the-year rally since 2003, and that year was a comeback year after a terrible bear market," Selkin said. "We could see something similar this year, although I think any gains will be smaller."

In 2003, stocks bounced back from a three-year bear market, with the S&P 500 gaining 26%.

On Tuesday, the Institute for Supply Management releases its survey of the services sector of the economy. The December index is expected to have dipped to 37.0 from 37.3 in November, remaining deep in recessionary territory.

The government's November factory orders report is due around the same time. Orders are expected to have fallen 2.6% after having fallen 5.1% in October.

The November pending home sales index is also due in the morning, while the afternoon brings the release of the minutes from the last Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting in December.