Tech, bank shares retreat from gains

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell on Monday after six sessions of gains, weighed by tech sector stocks, while a rally in energy shares petered out as crude oil gains withered. Bank shares fell ahead of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting for the year, set to begin Tuesday and expected to end on Wednesday with the year’s first interest rate increase.

NEW YORK — The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell on Monday after six sessions of gains, weighed by tech sector stocks, while a rally in energy shares petered out as crude oil gains withered.

Bank shares fell ahead of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting for the year, set to begin Tuesday and expected to end on Wednesday with the year’s first interest rate increase.

Traders cashed in gains in bank stocks ahead of the meeting, even if a rate hike, which on paper would benefit banks, is all but priced in.

The chances that the US central bank will not raise rates is “close to zero, but it’s not zero,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

The S& P 500 financial sector fell 0.90% following five consecutive weeks of gains.

The benchmark’s tech sector fell 0.50% after posting its largest weekly advance in a year last week.

BIGGEST BOOST

The health care sector was the biggest boost to both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials. Regeneron gained 3.80% to $387.10 after data on a competing drug combination from Novartis and Ophthotech did not meet its main goal. Ophthotech shares tumbled 86.4%. Regeneron was the largest percentage gainer on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.58 points, or 0.20%, to 19,796.43, the S&P 500 lost 2.57 points, or 0.11%, to 2,256.96 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.96 points, or 0.59%, to 5,412.54.

The Dow posted the latest in a string of record closing highs.

Energy stocks on the S&P 500 rose as much as 2.50% in early trading as crude oil prices soared around 6% to levels not seen in a year and a half. The sector ended up 0.70%, with both WTI and Brent crude barrels up less than 2%.

The industrials sector was down 0.37%, dragged down by defense stocks. Lockheed Martin declined 2.50% to $253.11, bouncing back from a session low of $245.50, after US president-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the company’s F- 35 program and costs were “out of control.”

Viacom fell 9.40% to $ 34.99. National Amusements withdrew its merger proposal for CBS and Viacom. Privately-held National Amusements is controlled by Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.79-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.23to-1 ratio favored decliners.

About 7.4 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges, roughly in line with the average volume over the last 20 sessions. —