Apple slid to hit a fresh 52-week low after the iPhone maker faced a major setback in its ongoing mobile patents battle with rival Samsung Electronics last Friday, as a federal judge slashed a $1.05 billion jury award by more than 40 percent and set a new trial to determine damages.
(Read More: What Apple Must Do to Catch Samsung: Analyst)
Meanwhile, Google hit a new 52-week high. Google is up nearly 15 percent year-to-date, while Apple has tumbled almost 20 percent.
Yahoo rose after the Internet company said it plans to discontinue seven of its products, including its mobile BlackBerryapp. Separately, Barclays upgraded its rating on the company to "overweight" from "equal weight," saying Yahoo's stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan are undervalued.
Best Buy rallied after Janney Capital and Bernstein raised its fair value on the electronics retailer to $21 from $18 and Bernstein increased its price target to $16 from $12.
Hess climbed after the oil and gas company said it will exit its retail, energy market and energy trading businesses amid pressure to break up the company from its third-largest shareholder Elliott Management. In addition, the company said it plans to repurchase up to $4 billion of its stock and raise its annual dividend to $1 from 40 cents.
Celgene said its experimental psoriasis drug was found to be safe and effective in a trial, paving the way for a filing for regulatory approval during the second half of 2013.
In Europe, the banking sector was under pressure after worse-than-expected results from HSBC, the region's biggest bank. HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver said the bank had faced a challenging operating environment in 2012, with low economic growth and changing regulations.
Japan was an exception to the negative trend, with the Nikkei reaching a four-and-a-half-year peak after Haruhiko Kuroda, the government's nominee for the post of Bank of Japan Governor, testified in favor of further aggressive monetary stimulus.
Later in the week, investors will focus on February's official jobs numbers, out on Friday.
"With a full economic agenda lying in wait, culminating in the big U.S. employment number on Friday, investors should strap themselves in for a bumpy ride. With the deep spending cuts taking effect in the U.S., there has been increasing demand in the options market for 'puts', as investors start to move to the sidelines and take some risk off the table," said McCudden.