Stocks were set for an opening lift on Monday following word of Osama bin Laden’s death late Sunday, but the market couldn’t deflect the mini-selloff that seemed to be in the works for a couple days.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 3 points to 12,807, the Nasdaq dropped 9 points to 2864 and the S&P 500 fell 2 points to 1361.

As we noted at the end of last week, however, a key driver of the market’s recent runup had been stocks of large-cap tech companies, which earned a lion’s share of the first-quarter earnings headlines.

But momentum in those stocks, as measured by the Nasdaq 100, had started to grow sluggish: despite a broader market move higher last Thursday and Friday, the index finished lower. On Monday, it was flat.

An even larger selloff on Monday came from small-cap stocks — the Russell 2000 lost 1.1% — and here, the effect of Bin Laden’s death likely played a more direct role. The day’s 0.4% dip in crude oil prices suggested investors were less inclined to bid up the smaller energy stocks that have provided strong returns amid crude’s rise.

Similarly, precious metals stocks — here again, a recent small-cap favorite sector — fell across the board, as gold prices held even and silver lost nearly 5%. At play was presumably the diminished need to plow further into riskier assets as well as recent heightened margin requirements for silver trading.

Travel and tourism stocks outperformed, with the assumption that oil prices and terrorism fears would be subdued for the time being. Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) gained 1.6%, while Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) rose 1.4%.

Despite the headline-grabbing events of this morning, stocks on Monday mostly confirmed that the moderation of tech and small-cap stocks would drain much of the broader momentum in the short term. Where the rally’s next leg up comes from remains to be seen.