Stocks end modestly lower

Stocks on Wall Street fell again Monday, though the market ended up bouncing nearly all the way back from an early slide led by technology companies.

A broad wave of selling pulled had the S&P 500 down by 2 percent in the early going, but a late-afternoon burst of buying left the benchmark index with a loss of just 0.1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 percent after having been down 1.6 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq eked out a gain of less than 0.1 percent after having been down 2.7 percent.

The latest pullback followed a sell-off last week as investors shifted holdings in anticipation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, among other moves aimed at lowering inflation. Wall Street is trying to get a better read on when and by how much the Fed will lift rates.

“It has the market a little bit rattled from the uncertainty of it all,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist with TD Ameritrade. “I would expect volatility to continue to stay elevated for the rest of the first quarter, at least, as we continue to grapple with this question.”

The S&P 500 slipped 6.74 points to 4,670.29. The drop extended the index’s losing streak to five days. It’s now about 2.6 percent below the all-time high it set a week ago.

The Dow fell 162.79 points to 26,068.87, after having been down 591 points in the early going. The Nasdaq rose 6.93 points to 14,942.83, snapping a four-day losing streak. Small company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 fell 8.66 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,171.15.

The selling began to lose momentum at the same time as a rise in Treasury yields eased. The 10-year Treasury briefly hit 1.84 percent before slipping back to 1.76 percent by late afternoon. That matches where the yield was late Friday.

Higher interest rates could help corral the high inflation sweeping the world, but they would also mark an end to the conditions that have put financial markets in “easy mode” for many investors since early 2020.