Stocks end down as tech falls again

After a wobbly day of trading, U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days Monday as technology companies continued to slide. Industrial companies and stocks that pay high dividends rose, and the market’s losses were limited relative to the steep drops it suffered last week.

Stocks opened lower and repeatedly switched between small gains and losses before falling in the last hour of trading. Along with tech firms, healthcare and energy companies and retailers fell as the stocks that have led the U.S. market higher this year continued to struggle.

Jason Pride, chief investment officer for private clients at Glenmede, said investors expect many years of powerful profit growth from technology-oriented companies such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix. Over the last two weeks, Wall Street has started considering the possibility that interest rates will rise more quickly, taking a bigger chunk out of those future profits.

“The more the company’s valuation is dependent on some profit way ahead in time as opposed to the profits coming today, the more [interest-]rate hikes should impact the valuation of that company,” Pride said.

The S&P 500 index fell 16.34 points, or 0.6%, to 2,750.79 on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.44 points, or 0.4%, to 25,250.55. The Nasdaq composite slid 66.15 points, or 0.9%, to 7,430.74. The Russell 2000 index of smallercompany stocks rose 6.42 points, or 0.4%, to 1,553.09.

Apple slid 2.1% to $217.36, and chipmaker Nvidia declined 4.5% to $235.38.

Netflix, which is scheduled to report its third-quarter results late Tuesday, fell 1.9% to $333.13. It has sunk 20.5% since disclosing weak user growth three months ago.

Bank of America’s thirdquarter profit and revenue beat analyst expectations, but Wall Street was disappointed with the company’s loan growth. Its stock slipped 1.9% to $27.92.

Bond prices edged down. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.16% from 3.14%.

U.S. crude oil rose 0.6% to $71.78 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, rose 0.4% to $80.78 a barrel in London.

Natural gas rose 2.6% to $3.24 per 1,000 cubic feet and have climbed almost 8% in October to reach their highest price since January.

Wholesale gasoline edged up 0.1% to $1.94 a gallon. Heating oil rose 0.2% to $2.33 a gallon.

In another sign investors were nervous about stocks, Gold rose 0.7% to $1,230.30 an ounce and silver ticked up 0.6% to $14.73 an ounce. Copper fell 0.4% to $2.79 a pound.

The dollar fell to 111.88 yen from 112.01 yen. The euro rose to $1.1584 from $1.1563.