Stocks end mostly up; tech firms fall

U.S. stocks finished mostly higher Monday as banks, media and energy companies climbed just enough to cancel out losses for technology firms including Facebook and Amazon.

About half the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index have reported their second-quarter results, and this week, Apple and others will join the fray. Steve Wood, chief market strategist for Russell Investments, said he expects strong earnings for U.S. companies, but he thinks stock markets in other regions will do better.

“The earnings cycle and the economic cycle are earlier stage and the central bank of Europe is going to be providing liquidity over the next year,” he said. “It’s been an 8 ½-year bull market in the U.S. and eight-plus-year economic expansion.”

The Dow Jones industrial average continued to build on its record highs, although the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite both fell. A majority of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange rose.

HSBC rose 2.4% to $50.09 after it said that higher interest rates helped it earn more from its lending business, and that it plans to buy back an additional $2 billion in stock. Capital One Financial ticked up 1.4% to $86.18.

Among technology companies, Facebook fell 1.9% to $169.25. The social media giant leaped 8.6% last week, when it posted strong second-quarter results. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, fell 1.3% to $945.50, and chip maker Micron Technology declined 4% to $28.10. E-commerce giant Amazon slumped 3.2% to $98.78.

Dynavax Technologies soared 71.4% to $15.85 after a panel advising the Food and Drug Administration said study data show that the Berkeley company’s Heplisav-B vaccine is safe for adults. Heplisav-B is intended to prevent hepatitis B infections. It would be Dynavax’s first approved drug.

Boeing ticked up 0.5% to $242.46, continuing its rapid ascent after reports that it will make electronics used in flight control. Boeing has given the Dow a 205-point boost over the last four days.

The price of oil rose again after its best week of the year. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 46 cents to $50.17 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, ticked up 13 cents to $52.65 a barrel.

Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.71 a gallon. Heating oil rose 1 cent to $1.65 a gallon. Natural gas dived 15 cents, or 5%, to $2.79 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10year Treasury note stayed at 2.29%.

Gold fell $1.90 to $1,273.40 an ounce. Silver rose 9 cents to $16.79 an ounce. Copper rose 2 cents to $2.89 a pound.

The dollar fell to 110.24 yen from 110.60 yen. The euro rose to $1.1831 from $1.1760.