NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were moderately lower at midday on Monday as Hong Kong protests added to worries about growth in China.
Energy shares were leading the day's decline even as oil prices rebounded from recent losses.
The S&P energy index <.SPNY> was down 9 percent.
All but one of the 10 S&P 500 sectors - utilities - were lower.
Housing shares also were lower after report that showed contracts to purchase previously-owned U.S. homes fell more than expected in August. An index of housing shares (HGX) was down 0.6 percent.
The S&P 500 fell almost 1 percent at its session low before rebounding and retracing about half that decline, though it seemed to find resistance at its 50-day moving average.
The benchmark S&P index is about 1.9 percent below a record close hit earlier this month and hasn't undergone a correction - defined as a 10 percent decline from a peak - since 2012.
"It's rallying a little bit from the lows of the day," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
"In the back of people's minds are the geopolitical risks that are weighing down the market ... while the U.S. economy and earnings are offsetting," some of that concern, he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) was falling 76.84 points, or 0.45 percent, to 17,036.31, the S&P 500 (SPX) was losing 8.41 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,974.44 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) was dropping 13.93 points, or 0.31 percent, to 4,498.26.
The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Athlon Energy (N:ATHL), rising 24.60 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Civeo (N:CVEO), down 46.96 percent.
Declining issues were outnumbering advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,923 to 1,048, for a 1.83-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,495 issues were falling and 1,089 advancing for a 1.37-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting nine new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 29 new highs and 104 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
