U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday in light trading as Wall Street grappled with uninspiring holiday sales reports and waited to see the extent of the damage due to earthquake-induced tsunamis in Asia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 50.99 points, closing at 10,776.13 after rising as high as 10,868 in early trading. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 6.4 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,154.22 and the S & P; 500 slipped 5.2 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,204.92.

The dollar slipped 0.7 percent vs. the euro at $1.3615, after setting a new record low of $1.3638 in earlier trades. The dollar was last down 0.5 percent against the Japanese yen at 103.01.

Among local issues, Reinhold Industries Inc. jumped 7.28 percent to $37.60 as investors reacted to news that the Santa Fe Springs-based manufacturer of custom composite components received new orders totaling $37 million during the past month.

On the down side, shares of Qualstar Corp., a Simi Valley-based automated magnetic tape library manufacturer, dropped 4.4 percent to close at $4.62. And Carson-based aerostructure component firm Ducommun Inc. fell 3.76 percent to $20.76.