NEW YORK — Stocks retreated early today as financial stocks fell and oil prices rose. The Dow Jones industrial average fell about 100 points.

Financial stocks like American International Group Inc. declined today after Fitch Ratings warned Friday that it might cut its ratings on the insurer.

Light, sweet crude rose 56 cents to $115.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Stocks staged a big rally Friday after crude tumbled more than $6 a barrel, its biggest percentage drop in more than four years. Investors have welcomed easing energy prices because they hope that will boost consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

Investors appeared unfazed after a trade group for real estate agents said sales of existing homes increased 3.1 percent in July as bargain-hunters purchased steeply discounted properties in the most troubled housing markets. The National Association of Realtors reported sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units. Sales had been expected to rise by only 1.6 percent, according to economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 97.05, or 0.85 percent, to 11,531.01. The Dow rose nearly 200 points on Friday as oil tumbled and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said inflation pressures are likely to moderate.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.72, or 0.76 percent, to 1,282.48, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 21.48, or 0.90 percent, to 2,393.23.

Among financial names declining, Merrill Lynch & Co. fell 52 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $24.70, while Bank of America Corp. slipped 29 cents to $29.92.

Bonds jumped Monday as stocks fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.79 percent from 3.87 percent late Friday. The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 127.4 million shares. Volume remains light Monday, with many traders taking the last week of August off. Low volume last week helped exaggerate the swings in the major indexes.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.81, or 1.06 percent, to 729.87.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.68 percent. Britain's stock market was closed for a holiday, but Germany's DAX index fell 0.41 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.58 percent.