Stocks close mostly lower

NEW YORK — Stocks closed a wobbly day of trading mostly lower on Wall Street Monday, extending a losing streak for markets.

The broader market is in the midst of a slump as investors try to gauge how companies and consumers are dealing with higher prices and whether central banks can help ease the problem. Major indexes have been slipping since early April.

“Time is the most important factor here,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “Right now sentiment and emotion is winning but eventually the reality of a fundamentally good backdrop will take over.”

Corporate earnings have been mostly good, he said, and consumer spending is holding up in the face of inflation pressure. But, the market will likely remain volatile and could experience more losses until some of the worries over inflation lessen.

The S&P 500 fell 15.88 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,008.01. The benchmark index is coming off a sixweek losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain, rising 26.76 points, or 0.1 percent, to 32,223.42.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq had a sharp drop. It fell 142.21 points, or 1.2 percent, to 11,662.79.

Technology stocks were among the biggest losers after pushing and pulling the market throughout the day. Apple fell 1.1 percent. Big tech companies, with their pricey values, tend to push the broader market both up or down. The sector has been a particularly heavy weight as investors worry about high inflation and rising interest rates.

U.S. crude oil prices rose 3.4 percent Monday and are up more than 50 percent for the year. Natural gas prices rose 3.8 percent and have more than doubled in 2022.