U.S. Stocks Fluctuate Before Closing Little Changed

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Monday before eventually ending the day little changed. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line and finished the session narrowly mixed.

While the Dow dipped 140.53 points or 0.4 percent to 39,357.01, the S&P 500 inched up 0.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,344.39 and the Nasdaq rose 35.31 points or 0.2 percent to 16,780.61.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several key U.S. economic reports later this week.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release reports on producer and consumer price inflation on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, with the data likely to impact the outlook for interest rates.

The reports are expected to show a slowdown in the annual rate of price growth, which could provide further impetus for the Federal Reserve to lower rates.

The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates next month, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a split regarding the probability of a quarter or half point rate cut.

In light of recent concerns about the outlook for the economy, traders are also likely to keep a close eye on reports on retail sales and industrial production.

While most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, airline stocks saw substantial weakness, resulting in a 4.1 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

JetBlue (JBLU) led the sector lower, with the airline plummeting by 20.7 percent after announcing it intends to offer $400 million worth of convertible senior notes due 2029.

Significant weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 3.5 percent plunge by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply higher amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.7 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. South Korea's Kospi jumped by 1.2 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved higher over the course of the trading session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.3 basis points to 3.909 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to the Labor Department's report on producer price inflation in the month of July.