Mixed bag as retailers rise, health care dips

NEW YORK » U.S. stocks hardly budged Monday as smaller firms and retailers rose while health care companies and banks declined. Chemical and mining companies rose as the dollar weakened.

Precious metals rose as the dollar, already at its lowest levels in almost a year, weakened a bit further. Bond yields slipped, sending banks lower and highdividend stocks like utilities and household goods companies higher.

Investors expect another solid round of corporate earnings, and they think the Federal Reserve will be more cautious about raising interest rates because of some weak economic data, including Friday’s report on retail sales.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 0.13 points to 2,459.14. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 8.02 points to 21,629.72. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.97 points to 6,314.43. The Russell 2000 index of smallercompany stocks rose 2.79 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,431.60.

The dollar rose to 112.66 yen from 112.56 yen. The euro rose to $1.1480 from $1.1467. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index is at its lowest level since early September.

Gold rose $6.20 to $1,233.70 an ounce. Silver gained 17 cents, or 1 percent, to $16.10 an ounce. Copper rose 3 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $2.72 a pound.

Investment firm BlackRock dipped after it reported weaker-than-expected results in the second quarter. The company’s earnings and revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts, and its stock declined $13.71, or 3.1 percent, to $425.63.

After the end of regular trading, Netflix said it picked up 5.2 million subscribers in the second quarter, and the streaming video company’s stock jumped 11 percent aftermarket.

Financial giant Goldman Sachs, health care products maker Johnson & Johnson and health insurer UnitedHealth will report their second-quarter results early Tuesday.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.31 percent from 2.33 percent.

FedEx said shipping volumes for its TNT Express business are down and customers are still experiencing delays after the business was hit by a cyberattack in late June. FedEx said it does not know when its services will back up to speed and its annual results will take a hit because of the dip in shipments and the cost of responding to the attack. The company’s stock fell $3.58, or 1.6 percent, to $215.48.

Meal kit company Blue Apron tumbled after The Sunday Times reported that Amazon is getting ready to launch its own meal-prep business. The British newspaper reported that Amazon registered a trademark for a food kit business.

Blue Apron filed to go public about two weeks before Amazon agreed to buy the Whole Foods grocery chain. The company went public June 29 with an IPO that priced at $10 a share, less than the company initially expected, and its stock has fallen further since then.