Tech Stocks Gain in Mixed Finish For Major U.S. Stock Indexes

s&Wall Street capped a mostly listless day of trading Monday with an uneven finish for U.S. stock indexes.

Gains by technology and materials stocks were mostly outweighed by losses among real estate companies, banks and other sectors. Macy’s and other big retailers also took hefty losses.

Energy companies rose as the price of crude oil rebounded from an early slide.

Investors were making moves ahead of the next corporate earnings reporting season, which ramps up this week. Technology stocks were a favorite, with traders expecting the sector companies to post solid results, said Anastasia Amoroso, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,427.43. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 5.82 points, or 0.03 percent, to 21,408.52. The Nasdaq composite rose 23.31 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,176.39. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 7.36 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,408.47.

About as many stocks rose as fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.37 percent from 2.39 percent late Friday.

Trading also got off to a mixed start Monday coming off a broad pickup in major markets in Europe and Asia.

Investors appeared to mostly focus on the coming start of the second-quarter earnings season. The market expects earnings per share growth of about 7 percent from companies in the S&P 500.

Traders also were looking ahead to potential news out of the Federal Reserve later this week. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is due to address Congress on Wednesday and Thursday.

The S&P 500’s technology sector, which went through a sell-off a few weeks ago, notched the biggest gain Monday. Chipmaker Nvidia led the group, climbing $6.94, or 4.7 percent, to $153.70.

Materials companies also posted big gains. CF Industries led the pack, adding $1.83, or 6.6 percent, to $29.72.

Investors welcomed news of deals that were actually moving forward.

ClubCorp vaulted 30.2 percent after private equity firm Apollo Global Management agreed to buy the golf and country club company for $17.12 a share, or $1.1 billion. ClubCorp gained $3.95 to $17.05. Apollo rose 57 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $26.91.

Energy futures notched gains. Benchmark U.S. crude added 17 cents to settle at $44.40 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, also rose 17 cents to close at $46.88 a barrel in London.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline was little changed at $1.50 a gallon. Heating oil also held steady at $1.45 a gallon. Natural gas rose 7 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $2.93 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold inched up $3.50 to $1,213.20 an ounce. Silver added 20 cents to $15.63 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.65 a pound.

Major markets in Europe closed higher.

Germany’s DAX rose 0.5 percent, while the CAC 40 in France gained 0.4 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares picked up 0.3 percent. Earlier in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei index gained 0.8 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.7 percent. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent. India’s Sensex rose 0.9 percent. Kospi added 0.1 percent.

In currency trading, the dollar rose to 114.05 yen from 113.99 yen late Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1403 from $1.1404.