Stocks drifted to a mixed close on Wall Street on Monday and oil prices fell after the US and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting negotiations to end their war.
- The S&P 500 rose 1.20 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7,413.18. The index is coming off two straight weekly losses.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 262.83 points, or 0.5%, to 52,210.08.
- The Nasdaq composite fell 43.74 points, or 0.2%, to 24,932.08.
Oil prices reversed course from a week ago, when a sharp escalation in fighting between the US and Iran worsened worries about global oil supplies, the
AP reports. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 6.3% to settle at $85.87 a barrel for October delivery. Prices surged to over $100 a barrel last week before easing.
Technology companies were behind much of the shifts in the market, with gains and declines for a mix of big companies resulting in uncertain trading. Nvidia fell 5% and Micron Technology slumped 2.3%. At the same time, Microsoft rose 1.9% and Apple rose 1.2%. They are all among the most valuable companies in the world, and those huge valuations give them more influence over the direction of the broader market. The mix of gains and losses from a variety of those companies had more impact in pushing and pulling the market, even as the majority of companies in the S&P 500 gained ground.
Communications company stocks were among the gainers Monday. Google parent Alphabet rose 2.1%, while Charter Communications jumped 6.7% and Comcast rose 2.3%. Credit card issuers and payment processors also notched gains. American Express climbed 2.8%, Capital One Financial added 2.1%, Visa rose 1.9% and rival Mastercard gained 2.2%.
- In Asia, Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT soared in its debut in Shanghai. The company jumped to become China's most valuable listed company with an estimated market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (nearly $490 billion).
Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several potentially market-moving updates on the economy and company earnings. Reports are due out on consumer confidence Tuesday and inflation on Thursday. "This is a week with more than its fair share of potential surprises, good and bad," says Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
- The big focus will be on the Federal Reserve, which will give an update Wednesday on its interest rate policy. The central bank has been grappling with the impact from rising inflation because of the ongoing US war with Iran. It also has to contend with a fresh round of US-imposed tariffs globally, which could further worsen inflation. Wall Street anticipates a nearly 36% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates at its meeting this week.
- Investors also have a heavy round of corporate earnings to review this week. Many of those reports could provide more clues into the health of different areas of the economy. Paint and coatings maker Sherwin-Williams, aircraft maker Boeing and payments processor Visa will report their latest results on Tuesday. Starbucks and Chipotle will report results on Wednesday.
- Technology companies are being especially closely watched because their sharp gains throughout the year have been behind Wall Street's record run. Microsoft will report results Wednesday. Amazon, with its growing cloud services business and focus on AI, will report results on Thursday, along with Apple.
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