U.S. Stocks Recover From Sharp Early Drop and Finish Mixed

U.S. stocks shrugged off early losses and wound up with a mixed finish Monday. Household goods companies took some of the worst losses as the S&P 500 index fell for the third time in four days.

The S&P 500 dropped as much as 22 points early on. Consumer products and packaged foods companies stumbled and drug makers and distributors fell, as did health insurers. That came after indexes in Europe and Asia fell. German stocks took steep losses as investors wondered if a dispute over migrants could eventually threaten the German government.

But stocks gradually recovered most of their losses as energy companies rose along with oil prices and technology companies managed to make some gains as well. Smaller and more U.S.-focused companies climbed higher. That continued a pattern that has persisted for more than three months.

The S&P 500 fell 5.91 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,773.75. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 103.01 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,987.47. The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.65 points to 7,747.03.

The Russell 2000 index rose 8.55 points, or 0.5 percent, to a record 1,692.46. Many investors feel the smaller and more U.S.-focused companies in that index are less vulnerable in the event that a major trade dispute slows growth in the global economy. Most of the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange closed higher.

Drugmaker Biogen suffered the biggest fall of any S&P 500 company following positive clinical trial results form a competitor. PTC Therapeutics jumped 27.5 percent to $47.88 after its report from an early study of a drug intended to treat Type 1 spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disorder that affects infants. PTC’s drug could affect sales of Biogen’s Spinraza, and Biogen lost 5.2 percent to $289.12. Its partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals sank 6.4 percent to $43.61

The German DAX fell 1.4 percent, and all 30 stocks on the index ended with losses. The CAC 40 in France lost 0.9 percent and Britain’s FTSE 100 fell less than 0.1 percent.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rose after it agreed to invest $550 million in Chinese e-commerce company JD.com. Alphabet picked up 2.1 percent to $1,183.58 while JD.com rose 0.4 percent to $43.76.

Rent-A-Center jumped 22 percent to $14.68 after private equity firm Vintage Capital Management agreed to buy it for $15 a share, or $800 million.

Oil futures rose as investors wait for an OPEC meeting later this week. Benchmark U.S. crude added 1.2 percent to $65.85 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, climbed 2.6 percent to $75.34 a barrel in London.

Chevron gained 1.6 percent to $125.97 and ConocoPhillips rose 1.9 percent to $66.60.

Wholesale gasoline rose 1.6 percent to $2.05 a gallon. Heating oil gained 2.1 percent to $2.13 a gallon. Natural gas fell 2.3 percent to $2.95 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note stayed at 2.92 percent.

Gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,280.10 an ounce. Silver dipped 0.2 percent to $16.44 an ounce. Copper lost 1.2 percent to $3.11 a pound.

The dollar fell to 110.44 yen from 110.62 yen late Friday. The euro inched up to $1.1615 from $1.1607.