Stocks slip for 3rd day in light trading

U.S. stocks finished mostly lower Monday in a quiet day of trading. Banks fell along with bond yields as stocks declined for a third straight day.

Lower bond yields hurt banks because they force down interest rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans. Utilities companies gave up some of their recent gains. Most sectors didn’t move much on the lightest trading day of the year.

Sameer Samana, a strategist for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said politics may keep investors occupied for the next few weeks as they wait for elections in France and a European Central Bank meeting, both next month, while legislators in the U.S. debate the Republican-backed proposed healthcare law.

Samana added that investors want to see tax reform proposals, but those aren’t likely to come until the healthcare bill is dealt with.

Britain’s government said it will trigger the process of leaving the EU on March 29. That will start a long negotiation between Britain and the EU, with uncertain effects for banks and other companies that do business across borders. Britain is expected to officially leave the union in 2019.

Bond prices rose, sending yields to their lowest level in three weeks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.46% from 2.50%.

Wells Fargo fell 1.8% to $57.63 and Synchrony Financial slid 2.6% to $34.20.

The British pound fell to $1.2350 from Friday’s $1.2396, and it’s down about 20% since Britain voted in June to leave the EU. The dollar declined to 112.58 yen from 112.70 yen. The euro fell to $1.0733 from $1.0743.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 56 cents, or 1.1%, to $48.22 a barrel. Brent crude fell 14 cents to $51.62 a barrel.

Dominion Diamond leaped 23% to $12.20 after Washington Cos. went public with an offer to buy the diamond mining firm for $13.50 a share, or about $1.1 billion.

Nektar Therapeutics soared 43.3% to $22.21 after the San Francisco company said an experimental pain drug met its goals in a latestage study. Its NKTR-181 is an opioid drug designed to relieve pain without causing euphoria. The drug was studied as a treatment for lower back pain.

Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $1.61 a gallon. Heating oil rose 1 cent to $1.51 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 9 cents to $3.04 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gold rose $3.80 to $1,234 an ounce. Silver rose 3 cents to $17.44 an ounce. Copper fell 2 cents to $2.67 a pound.