Stock indexes end mostly lower after listless trading day

Wall Street capped a day of mostly sideways trading Monday with a slight gain for the benchmark S&P 500 index, as a spike in crude oil prices sent energy companies broadly higher.

Energy sector stocks climbed as the price of crude oil hit its highest level since October after the U.S. government moved to further block Iranian oil exports.

Even with the surge in energy stocks, losses in banks, real estate companies and elsewhere in the market led to a mostly lower finish for the major U.S. indexes. Smaller company stocks fell more than the rest of the market.

Homebuilders slumped following a report showing that sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in March.

Monday’s listless day of trading was in line with a relatively calm stretch for the U.S. stock market in recent weeks. The market has been hovering near all-time highs after following up a nearly 20 percent plummet late last year with a nearly mirror-opposite rebound.

Investors are focused on a cavalcade of corporate earnings reports later this week and new data that will give them a read on how much U.S. economic growth slowed during the first three months of the year.

“This week is a crucial week for the market,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “(Investors) want to hear what these companies are saying in terms of their guidance, and that’s going to be crucial to see if this market can continue to inch higher.”

The S&P 500 wavered between gains and losses for much of the day before eking out a gain of 2.94 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,907.97. The index, which had briefly been down as much as 0.3 percent, is now within 0.8 percent of its record high set in September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48.49 points, or 0.2 percent, to 26,511.05. The Nasdaq composite gained 17.20 points, or 0.2 percent, to 8,015.27. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks dropped 5.70 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,560.04.

More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10 year Treasury rose to 2.59 percent from 2.55 percent late Thursday.

Energy futures closed broadly higher. Benchmark U.S. crude surged 2.7 percent to settle at $65.70 per barrel. The leap tacks further gains onto the price of oil, which has been climbing since dropping below $43 in late December. Brent crude rose 2.9 percent to close at $74.04 per barrel.

The Trump administration said it will no longer exempt any countries from U.S. sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil, including China and Japan, the world’s second and third largest economies.