While you were sleeping: UPDATED Wall Street slips from record

Stocks on Wall Street fell from record highs and Treasury bond prices rose as investors locked in some profits from the post-US election rally.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 54.24 points, or 0.3%, to 19,097.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6% to 5368.81 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 0.3% to 2201.72.

The Russell 2000 Index of small cap stocks fell 1.3%, snapping its longest winning streak in 20 years of rising for 15 consecutive sessions.

On Friday, all of Wall Street's four major indexes closed at record levels.

"US stocks have soared since the election," Adam Sarhan, chief executive at 50 Park Investments, told Reuters.

"At this point, it would be perfectly normal to see the market pull back a bit to digest the strong move. "Technically, the market is overbought and just about everyone out there, including the strongest bulls, want to see a nice orderly consolidation."

The Dow fell as slides in Nike and American Express shares, down 1.2% and 0.9% respectively, outweighed gains in Verizon Communications and IBM shares, up 0.8% each respectively.

Bond yield fall hits US dollar
Bonds prices strengthened as yields in US 10-year Treasurys fell four basis points lower to 2.309% from 2.359% on Friday. That also weighed on the US dollar.

"The dollar-yen looks to be struggling as the 10-year Treasury note opens for the week with a further step lower in yield," Sydney-based Westpac senior strategist Sean Callow told Bloomberg.

"Any signs that Treasurys' Trump tantrum is waning will hurt the yield sensitive dollar-yen."

Bucking the stock trends, shares of Time rallied 20% after the New York Post reported the publisher had rejected a takeover bid from billionaire investor Edgar Bronfman Jr.

He has teamed up with Len Blavatnik's Access Industries to submit a bid to buy the company for $US18 a share, the Post said.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the day with a 0.8% decline from the previous close.

The UK's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.6%, while France's CAC 40 Index retreated 0.9%, and Germany's DAX Index shed 1.1%.

European bank shares fell. Up to eight Italian banks risk failing if Prime Minister Matteo Renzi loses a December 4 referendum on constitutional reform, the Financial Times reported.

Oil rises ahead of Opec meeting
Oil prices rose 2.2% to $US47.08 a barrel. Opec ministers are struggling to finalise the details of an agreement to curb production to stem a global glut.

Disagreements over the production levels of Iran and Iraq remained a stumbling block in a Monday meeting, according to Reuters.

"Saudi Arabia and Iran are all playing strong negotiation tactics," London-based Natixis SA chief energy analyst Abhishek Deshpande told Bloomberg.

"The problem for Saudi Arabia is that this isn't the 1980s and 1990s when it could use its clout and expect others to follow. Today members like Iran and Iraq are equally strong and their agenda is to ensure they get a large market share."

(BusinessDesk)