Stocks on Wall Street drifted to a mixed close Monday as oil prices fell after the U.S. and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting negotiations to end the war. The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 per cent after spending much of the day bouncing between small gains and losses. The benchmark index was coming off two weekly losses in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 per cent, its fourth straight loss. The three major stock indexes are on pace to close out this month in the red. It would be the second straight monthly loss for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Oil prices reversed course from a week ago, when a sharp escalation in fighting between the U.S. and Iran worsened worries about global oil supplies. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 6.3 per cent to settle at $85.87 a barrel for October delivery. Prices surged to over $100 a barrel last week before easing. U.S. crude oil for September delivery fell 7.5 per cent to settle at $82.61 a barrel. The war between the U.S. and Iran has sharply curtailed, and at a times halted, traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz. That has had a ripple effect throughout the world’s economy. Gasoline prices have surged and shipping costs for most goods are rising, with businesses typically passing those costs along to households. Markets closed higher in Europe and Asia. Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.65 per cent from 4.69 per cent late Friday. 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 per cent and Micron Technology slumped 2.3 per cent. At the same time, Microsoft rose 1.9 per cent and Apple rose 1.2 per cent. 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 per cent, while Charter Communications jumped 6.7 per cent and Comcast rose 2.3 per cent. Credit card issuers and payment processors also notched gains. American Express climbed 2.8 per cent, Capital One Financial added 2.1 per cent, Visa rose 1.9 per cent and rival Mastercard gained 2.2 per cent. 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). All told, the S&P 500 added 1.20 points to 7,413.18. The Dow gained 262.83 points to 52,210.08, and the Nasdaq dropped 43.74 points to 24,932.08. Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several potentially mark-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,” said 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 U.S. war with Iran. It also has to contend with a fresh round of U.S.-imposed tariffs globally, which could further worsen inflation. Wall Street anticipates a nearly 36 per cent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates at its meeting this week. Higher rates can help cool inflation by making borrowing more expensive and slowing economic growth. The central bank has been holding rates steady throughout the year as it monitors inflation’s direction and impact, but Wall Street expects at least one rate hike by the end of the year. Stubbornly high inflation has been squeezing households and fuel costs have hit budgets and spending particularly hard. Gasoline costs are taking a bigger chunk out of household budgets, and that could mean tighter spending on other things like clothing and travel. Investors are monitoring the latest round of corporate earnings for signs of consumer stress along with whether the yearlong jump in stock values throughout Wall Street is justified by profits and forecasts for profit growth. 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 watched especially closely 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 AI focus, will report results on Thursday, along with Apple. ___ AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
