Wall St. flat, but energy shares lower

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened little changed on Monday as traders gauged the effect of tumbling crude oil prices, with the energy sector falling but bullish outlooks for retail and other consumer stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 6.29 points, or 0.04 percent, to 16,993.8, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 0.26 points, or 0.01 percent, to 1,985.28 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 0.84 points, or 0.02 percent, to 4,566.76.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Nick Zieminski)