Stocks wobble on Wall Street ahead of retailer earnings

Stocks wobbled in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday as the market comes off its first weekly loss in six weeks and investors move past the recent round of mostly solid corporate earnings.

The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged as of 3:04 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13 points, or less than 0.1%, to 36,1087 and the Nasdaq fell 0.1%.

The market remained choppy as rising and falling sectors rotated throughout the day. Energy companies started the day weak, but gained ground by late afternoon as U.S. crude oil prices reversed from losses to a slight gain. Chevron rose 2.3%.

A mix of financial companies and utilities also notched gains. Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.62% from 1.58% late Friday.

Communications companies were mixed after bouncing up and down throughout the day. Technology stocks fell, countering gains elsewhere in the market.

Investors are shifting their focus from the latest round of mostly solid corporate report cards to broader economic issues. That includes supply chain problems, rising inflation and other issues that will determine the pace and breadth of economic growth through the rest of the year and into 2022.

“You’re going to see a lot of give and take in this market because of the uncertainty over inflation,” said Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors. “It’s going to be a much more challenging situation because people are anticipating a good holiday season, but are unsure about the catalysts for next year.”

Elsewhere in the market Monday, buyout news helped lift several companies.