Stocks fall slightly ahead of earnings

U. S. stocks fell slightly in quiet trading Monday as investors worked through several company announcements and prepared for a new wave of company earnings releases.

Healthcare companies were solidly higher. Global markets rose modestly.

Stocks have recovered most of their losses from earlier in the year, but investors remain somewhat pessimistic about the market in the near term — especially ahead of the quarterly earnings reporting season, which unofficially begins next week with results from aluminum mining company Alcoa.

Profits of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index are expected to drop 8.5% compared with a year earlier, according to data from FactSet, with most of that decline coming from the oil and gas sector.

This is despite the continually positive U. S. economic reports, including last week’s jobs numbers and manufacturing data.

The low expectations for company earnings mean that stock values remain relatively high. Investors are paying roughly $ 18.63 for every dollar of earnings in the S& P 500, well above the $ 14 to $ 15 they typically pay.

“You’re going to need a big improvement in companies’ results for stocks to move higher,” said Kristina Hooper, head of U. S. invest- ment strategies at Allianz Global Investors.

Stocks were not so affected by a noticeable drop in oil prices Monday. Benchmark U. S. crude fell $ 1.09, or 3%, to $ 35.70 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid 98 cents to $ 37.69 a barrel.

Weeks ago, a sharp drop in oil prices could have reverberated far more strongly on the stock market. Samantha Azzarello, a global market strategist at J. P. Morgan Funds, said the breakdown in oil’s inf luence on stocks could ultimately be good.

“The market just had to work itself out,” she said.

Edwards Lifesciences jumped 18% after the Irvine company’s new replacement heart valve met its goals in a clinical trial.

Tesla Motors rose 4% to $ 246.99 after the Palo Alto automaker said it had received 276,000 preorders for its Model 3 electric car, unveiled Thursday.

Bond prices rose slightly. The yield on the 10- year Treasury note fell to 1.76% from 1.77%. The euro was mostly unchanged at $ 1.1397. The dollar fell to 111.26 yen from 111.73 yen.

Heating oil fell 4 cents to $ 1.089 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline futures fell 2 cents to $ 1.377 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4 cents to $ 1.998 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold dropped $ 4.20 to $ 1,219.30 an ounce. Silver fell 10 cents to $ 14.94 an ounce. Copper slid 2 cents to $ 2.14 a pound.