U.S. stock indexes wavered between small gains and losses in morning trading Monday, giving up some of their gains from earlier in the day. Investors bid up shares in utilities, real estate investment trusts and other high-yield paying stocks. Technology companies fell the most. Oil prices headed lower.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 1 point to 2,439 as of 11:22 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 17 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,412. The Nasdaq composite slid 25 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,240. The Russell 2000 of small-company stocks lost 5 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,409.
REITS RALLY: Several real estate investment trusts were trading higher as investors sought out stocks that pay high dividend yields as bond yields headed lower. Kimco Realty climbed 4.6 percent, the biggest gainer in the S&P 500. The stock added 83 cents to $18.82. Realty Income Corp. picked up $1.79, or 3.2 percent, to $57.07.
MUSICAL CHAIRS: Pandora Media rose 2.4 percent following reports that the streaming music service's founder and CEO Tim Westergren is stepping down. The stock picked up 19 cents to $8.47.
TECH SLUMP: Technology sector companies were down the most, reversing course after an early rally. Nvidia gave up $2.90, or 3.1 percent, to $149.05. Qorvo slid $2.90, or 4.2 percent, to $67.04. Skyworks Solutions fell $2.51, or 2.4 percent, to $101.85.
ENERGY: Crude oil prices slumped as an early rally faded. Benchmark U.S. crude was down 21 cents to $42.80 a barrel in New York. Brent, the international standard, was down 34 cents to $45.20 a barrel in London. Oil prices last week hit their lowest point since August and about 16 percent below where they were a year ago on expectations supplies exceed demand.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.44 yen from 111.26 yen late Friday. The euro strengthened to $1.1203 from $1.1199.
BOND YIELDS: Bond prices rose. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.13 percent from 2.14 percent late Friday.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, major indexes moved higher after a strong German economic survey reinforced hopes that the region's recovery is gaining momentum. Germany's DAX was 0.2 percent higher, while France's CAC-40 was up 0.5 percent. The FTSE 100 in London gained 0.3 percent. In Asia, several market indexes notched gains. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.7 percent, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent. Seoul's Kospi gained 0.4 percent. Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 rose 0.1 percent. Benchmarks in New Zealand, Taiwan and Bangkok also gained.
