Late burst of selling leaves U.S. stock indexes little changed

A listless day on Wall Street ended Monday with major indexes closing little changed as modest gains from earlier in the afternoon faded in the final minutes of trading.

The S&P 500 index slipped less than 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq inched 0.1 percent lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a 0.1 percent gain. The stock indexes spent most of the afternoon holding on to slight gains following a wobbly morning in the market as investors digested some weak economic figures out of Germany.

Losses in the health care, communication services and industrial sectors outweighed gains in technology stocks, consumercentric companies and banks. Bond yields declined, a sign that investors were seeking to avoid some risk.

Even so, Monday was a relatively quiet day for stocks after last week, when the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates again and fresh jitters over the next round of negotiations in the trade conflict between the U.S. and China helped give the S&P 500 its first week of losses following three straight gains.

“It’s a bit of calm after the storm,” said Craig Birk, chief investment officer at Personal Capital. “Last week there was a lot going on with geopolitical events and trade developments and central banks. This week, so far, there’s nothing so dramatic.”

The S&P 500 inched 0.29 points lower, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,991.78. The Dow gained 14.92 points, or 0.1 percent, to 26,949.99. The Nasdaq fell 5.21 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,112.46. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies lost 1.52 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,558.25.

The major indexes are each up modestly for the month and the quarter. The benchmark S&P 500 index remains close to its alltime high set in late July.

Bond prices rose, pulling down the yield on 10year Treasury notes to 1.72 percent from 1.75 percent late Friday.

Markets have rallied this month as investors welcomed steps by Washington and Beijing to ease tensions in advance of their next round of talks next month.