NEW YORK, Mar. 8 -- The U.S. stocks dropped on Monday on high oil prices and falling technology shares.

Wells Fargo downgraded the semiconductor sector on Monday, noting it has more than doubled over the past two years. The technology shares then fell below its crucial technical level, which caused concerns among investors.

Meanwhile, oil prices kept rising on Monday as Libya's violence continued, pushing the stocks further downward. Investors are still concerned that high oil prices will hurt global economic recovery and bring possible inflation problems.

However, some analysts began to recommend buying the energy stocks as oil prices remain at the high level.

The takeover news on Monday failed to boost the market. Hard drive maker Western Digital was going to buy Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for 4.3 billion dollars.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 79.85 points, or 0.66 percent, to 12,090.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11. 02 points, or 0.83 percent, to 1,310.13. The Nasdaq lost 39.04 points, or 1.40 percent, to 2,745.63.