NEW YORK — Worries about the holiday shopping season are sending stocks down sharply in early trading as investors give back some of last week's big gains.

While initial reports about the start of holiday shopping this weekend suggest sales were better than some retailers and analysts expected, Americans appear extremely cautious. That has Wall Street worried about the impact of a continuing drop in consumer spending on the economy. A trade group is expected to release data for the combined Friday and Saturday period on Monday.

Investors are also awaiting the Institute for Supply Management's monthly report on manufacturing activity, due at 10 a.m. EST. At the same time, the Commerce Department is expected to report that construction spending dropped in October.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down about 262 points at the 8,567 level. Broader indexes are also down sharply.