Wall Street opens modestly lower as volume remains thin on Columbus Day

• Falling crude oil prices weigh on energy shares on Monday.
• Investors move to sidelines while assessing the "phase one" trade deal with China.

Following the impressive rally witnessed in the second half of the previous week, major equity indexes in the United States (US) started the new week in the negative territory as investors are moving to the sidelines while assessing the details of the "phase one" trade deal with China that was announced on Friday.

As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.25% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are erasing 0.3% and 0.17%, respectively.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is down 0.8% in the early trade pressured by a more-than-2% drop in crude oil prices. On the other hand, the defensive Utilities Index is up 0.25% to reflect that the market sentiment is turning negative on the day.

Nevertheless, Wall Street's main indexes are expected to stay relatively calm in the remainder of the day dur to the Columbus Day holiday in the US.