US stocks drop ahead of Walmart earnings, Fed minutes

US stocks fell early Monday, kicking off a week that includes earnings from Wal-Mart Stores and the release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,360.28, down 117.12 points (0.67 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 10.89 (0.52 percent) at 2,080.65, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 20.14 (0.40 percent) to 5,028.10.

Monday's early losses followed modest gains last week as US stocks shook off unease over a surprise Chinese currency devaluation. The S&P 500 has traded consistently between 2,050 and 2,125 during most of the past six months.

Fed monetary policy meeting minutes Wednesday could shed light on the US central bank's timing for an interest rate increase, expected later this year.

Comcast advanced 0.8 percent after the biopic "Straight Outta Compton," from Comcast's Universal Studios, about rappers Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, led the North American weekend box office tally with $56.1 million in ticket sales.

Zulily, an online retailer of women's and children's clothing, surged 47.8 percent on news it would be acquired by Liberty Interactive's QVC cable TV shopping group for $2.4 billion. Liberty dropped 2.4 percent.

Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder fell 2.1 percent after projecting earnings in the current quarter of 75-78 cents per share, below the 81 cents expected by analysts.

Tesla Motors jumped 4.1 percent as Morgan Stanley lifted its price target on the stock, citing its work on a mobile application-based shared transport system.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.16 percent from 2.20 percent, while the 30-year dipped to 2.81 percent from 2.84 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.