NEW YORK, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street closed the first trading day of the week with tepid losses in the three major indexes, with much of their striking slumps earlier gradually eroded throughout the day.

Around market close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 66.47 points, or 0.25 percent, to 26,438.48. The S&P 500 fell 13.17 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,932.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 40.71 points, or 0.50 percent, to 8,123.29.

More specifically, the Dow offset around 85 percent of an over 470 points plunge, which reflected a broad panic among investors over worsening global trade tensions.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both clawed back, recovering from a sharp fall of 43.19 points and 154.05 points in the morning session, respectively.

Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around market close, led by the materials and industrials sectors, which posted declines of nearly 1.4 percent and nearly 1 percent, respectively. While the healthcare sector rebounded a minor 0.58 percent, the only gainer among the 11 primary sectors.

More than half of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow sank into the red territory around the closing bell.

Among the worst performers in the group, shares of Caterpillar and Boeing declined more than 1.6 percent and nearly 1.3 percent, respectively, as they've got high overseas revenue exposure.

As sensitive to global trade, several large tech stocks also suffered pains, among which chipmakers and semiconductor companies bore the brunt of dented investor sentiment.

On the individual front, shares of NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices slid over 1.7 percent and 2.8 percent separately.

The Cboe Volatility index, widely considered the best fear gauge in the stock market, decreased 19.97 percent to 15.44 after market close, retreating from a reading of nearly 17 in early morning.

U.S. stocks rallied Friday as the market was buoyed by signs of a robust labor market, as non-farm payroll employment surged by 263,000 in April, and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent.

For the week ending May 3, U.S. equities posted mixed results, as Wall Street digested the Federal Reserve's dovish statement on further tightening, and a wave of corporate earnings and economic data.

The Dow slightly fell 0.14 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.20 percent and 0.22 percent, respectively.