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A sell-off in technology companies dragged stocks lower on Wall Street Monday, pulling the major indexes back from their recent all-time highs.

The S&P 500 fell 1% after wobbling between small gains and losses the first half of the day. The decline broke a three-day winning streak for the benchmark index, which set a record high on Friday.

Big Tech companies, including Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google’s parent company, accounted for most of the index’s decline. Communication stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending also helped pull the market lower, outweighing gains in household goods makers, utilities and other sectors.

The wave of selling handed the Nasdaq its worst day in more than seven weeks, as the index is heavily weighted with big technology stocks. The tech sector, which led the market’s stunning comeback in 2020, now lags the other 10 sectors in the S&P 500 so far this year with a gain of 3.9%.

“You’ve had a tremendous run and there’s a lot of tech-focused stuff that’s up 70% to 100% in the last 12 months,” said Andrew Mies, chief investment officer at investment advisory firm 6 Meridien. “The fact that some people are taking chips off the table is not surprising.”

The S&P 500 index, which notched a weekly gain in eight of the last 10 weeks, fell 44.17 points to 4,188.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 34.94 points, or 0.1%, to 34,742.82. The blue chip index, which hit an all-time high on Friday for the third straight day, had traded higher for much of Monday, but dipped into the red in the last half-hour of trading.

The Nasdaq lost 350.38 points, or 2.5%, to 13,401.86. The index is up just under 4% so far this year, lagging well behind the S&P 500’s 11.5% gain.

Small company stocks also had a rough day. The Russell 2000 index fell 58.93 points, or 2.6%, to 2,212.70.

Wall Street has been mostly rising in recent weeks amid expectations of an economic recovery and strong profits this year. Massive support from the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve, and increasingly positive economic data, have also encouraged investors to push stock prices to all-time highs, despite an undercurrent of worry about inflation and the potential for higher interest rates later this year.

The government’s latest U.S. jobs report Friday showed employers added just 266,000 jobs in April, far fewer than the 975,000 economists were expecting. It was a steep drop from March’s hiring pace of 770,000. The weak jobs number suggests the economy is still in recovery mode and bolsters the case for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low.

But keeping interest rates low means the potential for more inflation down the road. Commodity prices spiked in early trading before settling down. Copper rose 5% in the early going before reversing to a loss of 0.7%. Platinum, which has several industrial uses, rose 0.1%. Investors will get some key inflation data this week, especially on Wednesday when April’s consumer price index is released.

Inflation has been a concern for investors since bond yields spiked earlier this year, but yields have mostly stabilized since then. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.61% from 1.57% late Friday.

Rising commodity prices are also starting to make a variety of everyday products more expensive. Analysts expect any increases in these measures going forward to be more mild and tied to the growing economy.

“This is more an effect of short-term confidence, not a long-term issue that we’re worried about,” said Andrea Bevis, senior vice president at UBS Private Wealth Management. “What matters most is what most prices are doing and we don’t foresee a big move further.”

Though the employment market has been lagging the recovery, other measures show that the economy is pushing forward. Consumer confidence and retail sales have both been regaining ground as people get vaccinated and businesses reopen. Americans set a record for pandemic-era air travel on Sunday, according to The Transportation Security Administration.

Meanwhile, the most recent round of corporate earnings reports showed a broad recovery touching many different sectors and industries during the the first three months of the year. Much of that was anticipated ahead of the reports and investors are now far off from the next big round of results.

“I’m not surprised to see the market take a little bit of a pause,” Bevis said.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A new analysis of opioids in West Virginia shows the city of Huntington and its surrounding county were overwhelmed with shipments of prescription drugs, nearly all of which came from three large drug distributors on trial in a landmark case.

Data consultant Craig McCann of Washington, D.C., testified for the plaintiffs Monday in a lawsuit against distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp., The Herald-Dispatch reported.

According to McCann, an analysis of data showed that from 2006 to 2014, about 110 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone were shipped to Cabell County and Huntington, which accuse the three distributors in federal court of fueling the area’s opioid epidemic.

About 90% of the shipments originated from the defendants, who unsuccessfully objected to McCann’s testimony.

During the nine-year period, there were an average 39.9 hydrocodone and oxycodone doses per person shipped nationally, compared to an average of 72 doses per person in West Virginia and 122 doses per person in Cabell County and Huntington.

When 12 other opiates were included, the numbers grew to 48.8 doses per person annually nationwide. That figure nearly doubled for West Virginia and nearly tripled for Cabell County, McCann said.

The county and city argue that “The Big Three” drug distributors created a “public nuisance” by flooding the area with prescription pain pills and ignored the signs that the community was being ravaged by addiction.

Attorneys for the manufacturers last week attempted to shift the blame away from their clients by arguing that what happens after delivery is out of the suppliers’ control. They argued West Virginia’s labor-intensive mining and industrial sectors may have led to workers with a greater need for painkillers. They also pointed out that the companies had no authority over illicit street drugs, the cause of the current crisis.

The trial could last into mid-June.

Similar lawsuits have resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements, but this is the first time the allegations have wound up at federal trial. The result could have huge effects on hundreds of similar lawsuits that have been filed across the country.

Huntington was once ground zero for the addiction epidemic until a quick response program that formed in 2017 drove the overdose rate down. But the pandemic undid much of the progress.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration declared Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that narrowed rights at the intersection of changing social mores and sensitive medical decisions.

It marked the latest step by President Joe Biden to advance the rights of gay and transgender people across society, from military service, to housing, to employment opportunities.

The policy announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services affirms that federal laws forbidding sex discrimination in health care also protect gay and transgender people. The Trump administration had defined “sex” to mean gender assigned at birth, thereby excluding transgender people from the law’s umbrella of protection.

“Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.”

Both opponents and supporters of Biden’s action said it’s likely to lead to litigation.

Speaking for the medical community, the American Medical Association said in a statement the Biden administration “did the right thing” by ending “a dismal chapter which a federal agency sought to remove civil rights protections.” But some conservatives warned that doctors could be forced to perform gender reassignment procedures against their professional judgement.

Becerra said HHS will now be aligned with a landmark 6-3 Supreme Court decision last year in a workplace discrimination case, which established that federal laws against sex discrimination on the job also protect gay and transgender people.

In a tweet at the time, then-President Donald Trump called the decision “horrible & politically charged.” Undeterred by the ruling, his administration proceeded to try to narrow protections against discrimination in health care. But Biden early on in his term directed government agencies to apply the Supreme Court’s reasoning to areas under their jurisdiction.

Monday’s action means that the HHS Office for Civil Rights will again investigate complaints of sex discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Hospitals, clinics and other medical providers can face denial of Medicare and Medicaid payments for violations of the law.

Since the Trump transgender rule had been blocked by a federal judge, the Biden administration action essentially restores a policy established during the Obama years. The Affordable Care Act prohibited sex discrimination in health care but did not use the term “gender identity.” The Obama administration interpreted the law as shielding gay and transgender people as well.

Conservative lawyer Roger Severino, who as a former HHS official oversaw the drafting of the Trump rules, said the Biden administration cut corners in issuing its new policy.

“This is inflaming the culture wars, especially when you are trying to circumvent the process,” said Severino, now at the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank. Partly because of conflicting lower court rulings on the Trump and Obama policies, Becerra should have undertaken a formal rule-making, which can take months. “I expect lawsuits,” Severino added.

But civil rights advocates said the Supreme Court’s ruling on transgender protections essentially wiped the slate clean for Biden. “The Supreme Court has already laid out the reasoning that applies under all sex discrimination laws,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal. “They did so in an employment case but their reasoning applies equally in health care, in education, and in housing.”

In recent years the understanding of sex has broadened to acknowledge a person’s inner sense of being male, female, neither or a combination.

Behind the dispute over rights for transgender people is a medically recognized condition called “gender dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender assigned at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from gender confirmation surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing.

Under the Obama-era rule, a hospital could be required to perform gender-transition procedures such as hysterectomies if the facility provided that kind of treatment for other medical conditions.

LGBTQ groups say explicit protections are needed for people seeking gender transition treatment, and even for transgender people who need care for illnesses such as diabetes or heart problems.

But Tony Perkins, president of the religious conservative Family Research Council, called sex “an objective biological reality” and said the Biden administration is promulgating “a nonsensical definition” of discrimination. “While this decision will advance America’s cultural psychosis, it will potentially put the physical well-being of individuals at grave risk,” Perkins said in a statement.

More than 1.5 million Americans identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank focusing on LGBT policy at the UCLA School of Law. A bigger number — 4.5% of the population— identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to Gallup.

HHS is a traditional battleground for conflicts over social issues. During the Trump administration the department bent to the will of conservatives. Other Trump policies applauded by the right restricted abortion referrals and broadened employers’ ability to opt out of providing birth control to women workers covered by their health plans. Under Biden, the policy pendulum has been swinging back in the opposite direction.

One of Biden’s first steps after taking office was a Jan. 20 executive order on combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Biden quickly followed that up with another order reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military.

And earlier this spring, the Department of Housing and Urban Development withdrew a Trump policy that would have allowed taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to deny access to transgender people.

At HHS, Biden’s term has seen the Senate confirmation of Dr. Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary for health, a senior position that involves oversight of public health initiatives, HIV/AIDS, women’s health and minority health, as well as other areas including research protections. Levine, formerly Pennsylvania’s top health official, is the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate.

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FRANKLIN GROVE, Ill. (AP) — A team of Illinois researchers is using dogs to track down a threatened species of turtle.

Researchers believe ornate box turtles, once living in half of Illinois’ 102 counties, are found in less than 10.

One known home for the species is in Lee County, and a team from the Chicago Zoological Society and the University of Illinois spent Friday surveying the 3,800-acre (1,500-hectare) Nachusa Grasslands.

A team paced through the grasses trying to spot the small turtles, aided by a group of Boykin spaniels that can sniff out the turtles’ trail. When a human or a dog located a turtle, researchers made notes about the reptile’s eyes, ears, nose and took physical measurements along with a blood sample.

Ornate box turtles’ shells have distinct yellow markings in a sunburst pattern. They typically weigh about a pound and are 3 or 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) in length, said Dr. Matt Allender, the Chicago Zoological Society clinical veterinarian and director of the University of Illinois Wildlife Epidemiology Laboratory.

The health study is in its 15th year. The data collected during Friday’s survey will be added to previous years’ findings to help researchers determine what is threatening the environment and health of the ornate box turtles.

“Ornate box turtles are sentinels of environmental and ecosystem health, so they utilize both land and water sources, just like humans do in this environment,” Allender said. “And so the health of the ornate box turtle is a reflection of the health of the environment that we draw our natural resources on.”

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Aided by an astonishing nearly $76 billion budget surplus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday proposed tax rebates of up to $1,100 for millions of households and more than $7 billion to help people affected by the pandemic cover rent and utilities.

It was Newsom’s first in a weeklong roll out of pandemic recovery proposals totaling $100 billion, which could boost his political fortunes as he faces a likely recall election later this year. His opponents accused him of pandering and said the state would be better served by broader tax reforms.

“Direct stimulus checks going into people’s pockets and direct relief — that’s meaningful,” Newsom said from a community organization in a disadvantaged Oakland neighborhood.

Under his plan, roughly 11 million low- and middle-income Californians would see direct, one-time payments. Taxpayers making between $30,000 and $75,000 a year would get a $600 payment. Households making up to $75,000 with at least one child would get an extra $500 payment. It builds on an earlier payments to the lowest-income Californians and immigrants who pay taxes but did not get federal stimulus payments, including those living in the country illegally.

The projected $75.7 billion budget surplus is largely due to taxes paid by rich Californians who generally did well during the pandemic, and marks a major turnaround after officials last year said they feared a deficit of more than $50 billion. Officials from the state Department of Finance said multiple rounds of federal coronavirus bills boosted the state’s budget by putting money back into the economy. The stock market also did well, helping California’s tax collections. The state relies heavily on income taxes from the wealthiest people.

The state will also get $27 billion from the latest federal coronavirus spending plan, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday.

Under Newsom’s plan, the direct payments would total an estimated $8.1 billion, said H.D. Palmer, a finance spokesman. The proposal also includes $5.2 billion to help with back rent and future payments and $2 billion for overdue utility bills for people who fell behind during the pandemic, though Newsom’s office provided few details.

A law passed by voters in the 1970s requires the state to give some money back to taxpayers if the surplus hits a certain limit. The state estimates it will be $16 billion over that threshold. Newsom does not have to act immediately, but is choosing to do tax rebates now, Palmer said.

“We believe people are better suited than we are to make determinations for themselves on how best to use these dollars,” Newsom said.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who joined Newsom, urged immigrants to take advantage of free assistance to file their taxes and become eligible for the payments.

The budget surplus puts Newsom in a prime political position, said Eric Schickler, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. It’s a better position when “you’re able to give out surplus to millions of voters than in a mode of cutting the budget, raising taxes, asking for sacrifice,” he said.

Newsom must introduce his revised state budget by the end of the week. The chairs of the state Senate and Assembly budget committees joined Newsom, indicating their support for a proposal that will go before overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature.

Jon Coupal, president of the fiscally conservative Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said he did not think Newsom’s plan complied with the state law that limits how much the government can spend. But he didn’t argue with the idea of giving money back to people.

“If he is giving money back to taxpayers, back to citizens, that is a positive thing. Who he is giving it to, we could argue about that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Newsom’s Republican rivals in the recall election quickly criticized the effort, saying long-term tax reform is needed instead. Kevin Faulconer, the former mayor of San Diego, plans to roll out a tax cut proposal later this week.

“One time payments for just one year isn’t enough, not nearly enough,” Faulconer said. “We need permanent, lasting tax relief for middle-class families.”

Businessman John Cox, who campaigned alongside a bear last week for attention, accused Newsom of engaging in a publicity stunt.

“The governor’s got a lot of money to hand out. And of course, he’s worried about his own neck,” Cox said at a campaign event in Los Angeles.

Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California, said the cash payments could give Newsom a temporary boost but are unlikely to make or break his political future. Instead, his fate will likely depend on a collection of things like the pandemic, drought, wildfires and other issues that could be on voters’ minds.

Combined with the earlier payment, the state would spend $11.9 billion on direct cash payments.

Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting, the chamber’s budget chair, summed up the plan as one that helps those most battered by the pandemic.

“That budget surplus is going right back to the most vulnerable Californians, the ones who need help the most,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Sacramento and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed.

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