Stocks up; Nasdaq ends a 7- day skid

U. S. stock indexes moved solidly higher Monday, recovering some of last week’s steep declines. Recently battered technology stocks such as Amazon. com and Microsoft rose, helping end a seven- day losing streak in the Nasdaq composite.

A major tech stock that did not participate in Monday’s gains was Apple, which slipped 0.1% to $ 93.64. Apple has fallen eight days in a row and has lost 16% of its value in the last two weeks.

Technology stocks have been an unexpected drag on the market in the last week. Apple reported its f irst quarterly decline in profits in years, which sent ripples through the stock market. Investors have been moving into safer investments. The Dow Jones utility index, a collection of 15 dividendpaying utility companies, is up more than 14% this year.

“There’s a risk- off sentiment in the market right now,” said David Lebovitz, a global market strategist at J. P. Morgan Funds.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock index fell more than 3% as markets there reopened after a holiday. It fell as investors continued to react negatively to the Bank of Japan’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged. The Japanese yen also continued to climb sharply, which hurts Japanese exporters.

“Investors are beginning to question whether monetary policy can really push Japan’s economy forward,” Lebovitz said.

Apollo Education Group, which runs the University of Phoenix, leaped 12.4% to $ 8.77 after a group of investors raised its bid for the company.

Benchmark U. S. crude oil fell $ 1.14 to $ 44.78 per barrel. Brent crude fell $ 1.54 to $ 45.83 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $ 1.56 a gallon, heating oil slid 3 cents to $ 1.36 a gallon and natural gas dropped 14 cents to $ 2.04 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10- year Treasury note rose to 1.86% from 1.82%. The dollar slipped to 106.45 yen from 106.73 yen, and the euro rose to $ 1.1523 from $ 1.1454.

Gold rose $ 5.30 to $ 1,295.80 an ounce, silver fell 13 cents to $ 17.66 an ounce and copper slipped 2 cents to $ 2.26 a pound.