Wall Street starts new week on back foot

• Falling crude oil prices weigh on energy shares on Monday.
• Investors remain on edge as US tariff hike looms.

Wall Street's main indexes started the first day of the week in with modest losses as investors refrain from making large bets while waiting for fresh news surrounding the US-China trade conflict. Sides will try to finalize the phase-one of the trade deal in order to avoid the December 15th tariff hike.

As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite was unchanged on the day.

Additionally, the fact that the data published by China's General Administration of Customs on Sunday showed China's exports fell for the fourth straight month in November revived concerns over a global economic slowdown and weighed on the sentiment. 

Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is down 0.7% pressured by a 1% drop in crude oil prices. On the other hand, the Communication Services Index is up 0.5% to lead the winners.