Stocks finish day mixed; techs up

Wall Street capped a mostly listless day of trading Monday with an uneven finish for U.S. stock indexes.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,427.43. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 5.82 points, or 0.03 percent, to 21,408.52. The Nasdaq composite rose 23.31 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,176.39. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 7.36 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,408.47.

About as many stocks rose as fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.37 percent from 2.39 percent late Friday.

Gains by technology and materials stocks were mostly outweighed by losses among real estate companies, banks and other sectors. Macy’s and other big retailers also took hefty losses.

Energy companies rose as the price of crude oil rebounded from an early slide.

Investors were making moves ahead of the next corporate earnings reporting season, which ramps up this week. Technology stocks were a favorite, with traders expecting the sector companies to post solid results, said Anastasia Amoroso, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

“There’s definitely a pivot going on to earnings from some of the trading last week,” Amoroso said, adding that “investors are looking for some of the higher growth-opportunities and tech definitely stands out.”

Trading also got off to a mixed start Monday coming off a broad pickup in major markets in Europe and Asia.

Investors appeared to mostly focus on the coming start of the second-quarter earnings season. The market expects earnings per share growth of about 7 percent from companies in the S&P 500.

Traders also were looking ahead to potential news out of the Federal Reserve later this week. Fed Chairman Janet Yellen is scheduled to address Congress on Wednesday and Thursday.

“We’re going through a transition phase where interest rates and Fed policy were very friendly for quite some time and that was the most important support for the markets,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird. “Now we’re moving more toward the revival of the global economy, including the U.S., and what that might mean for earnings prospects going forward, and the markets are now dwelling on that potential.”

The S&P 500’s technology sector, which went through a sell-off a few weeks ago, notched the biggest gain Monday. Chipmaker Nvidia led the group, climbing $6.94, or 4.7 percent, to $153.70.

Big department stores slumped, led by Macy’s. The company was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500, sliding $1.60, or 7.1 percent, to $21.08.

Pepsi and Delta Air Lines are among the big companies set to report their latest quarterly results this week. JPMorgan Chase, PNC Financial Services Group, Wells Fargo and Citigroup report earnings on Friday.

Energy futures notched gains. Benchmark U.S. crude added 17 cents to settle at $44.40 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, also rose 17 cents to close at $46.88 a barrel in London.