Oil prices topped $120 per barrel Monday, jumping more then $3 per barrel during the day, causing concerns production of goods would rise in cost and consumer spending would decline.
By early Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 88.66 points to 12,969.54, off 0.68 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 6.41 points to 1,407.49, off 0.45 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 12.87 points to 2,464.12, off 0.52 percent.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,331 stocks advanced and 1,777 declined on a volume of 1.106 billion shares traded.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 2/32 to yield 3.86 percent.
The euro traded at $1.5492 from Friday's $1.5413 and the dollar traded at 104.87 yen from Friday's 105.40 yen.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 57.07 points to 26,183.95, off 0.22 percent. In Japan, the stock market was closed Monday.
In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 128.20 points to 6,215.50, up 2.11 percent.