Major US stock markets closed lower than zero on Monday, as Apple pulled the market slightly down after lowering the rating.

Shares of iPhone maker (AAPL) declined after brokerage company Pacific Crest lowered their rating to "Together with the market" from "Better than the market".

In addition, as it became known from the report from Markit, the growth of business activity in the US services sector slightly accelerated in May, reaching a three-month high. This extended the current period of activity growth to 15 months. New orders also grew at a faster pace and rose as much as possible from January. As a result, firms increased the number of jobs, while the growth rate accelerated to a three-month high. Inflation in purchasing prices has moderately weakened, while prices charged by service providers in the United States have increased more rapidly. The seasonally adjusted index of business activity continued to hold above the neutral level of 50.0 in May, reaching a level of 53.6, compared with 53.1 in April, which marked the largest increase in total activity since February.

At the same time, the index of business activity in the US services sector, calculated by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), fell to 56.9 points in May from 57.5 in April. According to the forecast, the figure should drop to 57 points. The ISM said that the expansion of activity in the service sector has been fixed for the 88th month in a row.

Oil prices fell by about 1% on Monday, reacting to fears that the severance of ties with Qatar, announced by the largest oil exporter - Saudi Arabia - and other Arab states could prevent a global deal to reduce oil production.

Most components of the DOW index closed in positive territory (16 out of 30). Most fell shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL, -1.04%). Leader of growth were shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT, + 0.94%).

Almost all sectors of the S & P index recorded a decline. The conglomerate sector fell most of all (-0.5%). Only the technological sector showed growth (+ 0.2%).

At closing:

DJIA -0.10% 21.184.38 -21.91

Nasdaq -0.16% 6,295.68 -10.12

S & P -0.12% 2.436.11 -2.96