Weakness in U.S. stocks continued into the third week as an upbeat government report on retail sales was offset by a sell-off in technology stocks including Apple.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 71.82 points, or 0.56 percent, to settle at 12,921.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 slipped 0.69 points, or 0.05 percent, to 1,369.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 22.93 points, or 0.76 percent, to 2,988.40.

Major indexes were heading to different directions from the beginning of the session, even after the government retail data came in better than expected.

According to the Commerce Department, retail sales jumped 0.8 percent in March, as much as double of market expectations, showing consumers are weathering the jump in gasoline prices heading into the second quarter.

Utilities and financial stocks were among the best performers after Citigroup booked a first-quarter profit that beat forecasts.

According to its report, the third biggest U.S. bank by asset posted a net income of 2.9 billion dollars, or 95 cents a share, 2 percent lower than the profit in the same period last year. Excluding one-time items, the New York-based lender earned 1.11 dollars a share, beating Wall Street's estimates of 1.00 dollar a share.

But the revenue came in at 19.4 billion dollars, lower than 19. 7 billion dollars a year earlier and falling short of the consensus estimate of 19.8 billion dollars.

Nasdaq was under heavy pressure as a sell-off in Apple dragged the index below the key psychological level of 3,000.

Apple stocks tumbled more than 4 percent on Monday, the last intraday decline since October 19, after having grown 49 percent this year amid worries over iPad and iPhone sales.

In Europe, Spain's 10-year government bond yields rose above 6 percent for the first time since November and the cost of insuring its debt hit a record high.

In other markets, the U.S. dollar fell against its major counterparts in late New York trading while U.S. crude oil price edged up.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery gained slightly by 10 cents to settle at 102.93 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

But in London, Brent crude for May delivery declined sharply and last traded around 118 dollars a barrel.