U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday (November 26) as investors focused on the meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Greece and negotiations over the U.S. "fiscal cliff" after last week's rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 56.59 points, or 0.43 percent, to 12,953.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 5.59 points, or 0.40 percent, to 1,403.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 6.46 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,960.39.

Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund will seek to unfreeze the second bailout package for Greece on Monday, but they first need to agree if some of the official loans to Athens might eventually be forgiven to cut Greek debt.

U.S. lawmakers have made little progress in the past 10 days toward a compromise to avoid the harsh tax increases and government spending cuts scheduled to start taking effect on Jan. 1, a senior Democratic senator said on Sunday (November 25).