NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stock markets traded lower on Monday as leaders of AI companies joined calls for greater guardrails and to slow the rollout of artificial intelligence, moves opposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and China.

"Obviously some high profile names stating that the acceleration of Frontier AI models needs to slow may be a sticker shock, but, in a way, this feels exactly what the markets want," David Wagner, head of equity at Aptus Capital Advisors told CNBC Monday. "If capex spend were to slow, so would earnings, but free cash flow would likely inflect higher, which could create multiple expansion back to levels witnessed in December 2025."

"Nonetheless, the market knows it's entering a seasonally weak period. Coupled with a lot of mid-term rhetoric, this could create an environment where stocks continue to take a breather," Wagner added.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded the largest percentage decline among the principal US benchmarks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a smaller loss. The S&P/TSX Composite in Canada was little changed.

The Standard and Poor's 500 closed at 7,619.93, down 37.05 points, or 0.48 percent, on volume of approximately 2.801 billion shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 52,421.17, declining 152.12 points, or 0.29 percent, with trading volume of about 431.329 million shares.

The NASDAQ Composite ended at 26,186.41, down 146.62 points, or 0.56 percent, on volume of approximately 6.013 billion shares. The decline made the Nasdaq the weakest of the three major US stock-market indexes in percentage terms.

U.S. Dollar Strengthens Across Major Currencies in Monday's FX Trading

The U.S. dollar strengthened broadly against the major currencies in Monday's foreign exchange trading, with the greenback gaining against the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar.

The EUR-USD exchange rate was last quoted at 1.1551, down 0.41 percent. 

The USD-JPY pair was quoted at 154.31, 0.46 percent. 

Sterling also weakened against the greenback, with GBP-USD last quoted at 1.3503, down 0.16 percent. 

The Australian dollar similarly lost ground against the greenback. AUD-USD settled at 0.7140, down  0.40 percent.

Against the Canadian dollar, USD-CAD stood at 1.3902, up 0.22 percent. 

Taken together, the Monday quotations pointed to broad-based strength for the U.S. dollar. The greenback gained against all five currencies represented in the supplied market quotes, with the largest percentage move recorded against the Japanese yen at 0.46 percent, followed by the euro at 0.41 percent, the Australian dollar at 0.40 percent, the Canadian dollar at 0.22 percent and the British pound at 0.16 percent.

Global Stock Markets End Monday Mixed as European and Asian Shares Diverge

Global stock markets finished Monday on a mixed note, with European equities broadly lower while several Asian markets posted modest gains.

In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite index bucked the broader North American decline, edging up 5.04 points, or 0.01 percent, to finish at 35,702.53. Trading volume was approximately 296.965 million shares.

The FTSE 100 was among the stronger major performers, while sharp declines in South Korea and several emerging markets weighed on the broader picture.

In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 10,697.57, up 47.13 points, or 0.44 percent. The index traded between 10,650.92 and 10,734.85 during the session.

In Europe, Germany's DAX P fell 127.75 points, or 0.50 percent, to 25,440.81. In France', the CAC 40 declined 61.99 points, or 0.76 percent, to 8,117.78.

The broader EURO STOXX 50 ended at 6,260.38, down 64.75 points, or 1.02 percent, while the Euronext 100 Index dropped 22.06 points, or 1.16 percent, to 1,879.45. Belgium's BEL 20, however, gained 16.31 points, or 0.29 percent, to 5,729.67.

Asian markets produced a similarly mixed performance. Hong Kong's HANG SENG INDEX rose 111.97 points, or 0.45 percent, to 24,917.60, while Singapore's STI Index gained 22.09 points, or 0.39 percent, to 5,718.02.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 [XJO] edged up 8.70 points, or 0.10 percent, to 8,749.90, while the ALL ORDINARIES [XAO] advanced 3.70 points, or 0.04 percent, to 8,923.90. Across the Tasman, New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 INDEX GROSS moved in the opposite direction, declining 19.64 points, or 0.14 percent, to 13,560.69.

India's S&P BSE SENSEX slipped 120.84 points, or 0.16 percent, to 74,781.76, while in Indonesia, the IDX COMPOSITE fell 6.68 points, or 0.10 percent, to 6,534.69.

Malaysia was one of the region's stronger performers. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI climbed 11.27 points, or 0.67 percent, to 1,698.01. 

South Korea recorded one of the day's steepest declines. The KOSPI Composite Index fell 225.54 points, or 3.26 percent, to 6,684.37. In Taiwan, the TSEC CAPITALIZATION WEIGHTED ST also declined, losing 322.33 points, or 0.70 percent, to 45,862.52.

In mainland China, the SSE Composite Index finished at 3,885.33, down 2.78 points, or 0.07 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 518.35 points, or 0.81 percent, to 63,492.99.

In the Middle East and Africa, Israel's TA-125 edged higher by 4.70 points, or 0.11 percent, to 4,125.98. In Egypt, the EGX 30 Price Return Index fell 868.20 points, or 1.56 percent, to 54,796.60. South Africa's Top 40 USD Net TRI Index declined 187.86 points, or 2.62 percent, to 6,993.73.

Overall, Monday's closing figures showed a clear split across global markets. The FTSE 100, Hang Seng, Singapore, and Malaysia posted gains, while most major European benchmarks, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and African markets ended lower. South Korea's KOSPI recorded the largest percentage decline among the major indexes listed, falling 3.26 percent, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI delivered the strongest gain at 0.67 percent.

This report incorporates quotes retrieved with the assistance of artificial intelligence).

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