Stocks stay near record level ahead of key data

NEW YORK — Wall Street held relatively steady Monday following its latest record-setting week.

The S&P 500 slipped 4.77 points, or 0.1%, to 5,021.84 after closing Friday above the 5,000 level for the first time. Most of its stocks rose, but losses for Microsoft and other tech companies weighed on the index.

The weakness for tech also pulled the Nasdaq composite down by 48.12, or 0.3%, to 15,942.55. Earlier in the day, it had been hovering just above its all-time closing high set in 2021. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, rose 125.69, or 0.3%, to 38,797.38 to set its latest record.

Conditions were calm across markets, and yields were stable in the bond market. The next big event for the market could be Tuesday’s update on inflation across the United States, which economists expect to show a drop back below the 3% level.

Big companies in the S&P 500 have mostly been reporting better results than expected for the final three months of 2023. More than two-thirds of the companies in the index have already reported their results, but several big names are still to come this week. They include Coca-Cola on Tuesday, Kraft Heinz on Wednesday and Southern Co. on Thursday.

The smallest companies in the market, meanwhile, are still in the relatively early days of their profit-reporting season. But they’ve been beating analysts’ expectations by even more than their big rivals, according to Bank of America strategists.

Worries have grown about how top-heavy the stock market has become, where the seven biggest companies accounted for a disproportionate amount of the S&P 500’s rally to a record.