NEW YORK — Wall Street had a mixed performance Monday as investors regained a cautious stance after disappointing news from Bank of America and Midwest bank National City and after another record-breaking tear in oil prices.
Investors were clearly uneasy about extending last week’s big gains after Bank of America said its first-quarter earnings fell 77 percent on write-downs and widening credit losses. BofA’s report followed a week in which big-name companies in general turned in better-than-expected numbers for the first quarter, helping the major stock indexes to gains of more than 4 percent.
Wall Street has at times worried that a slowing economy and a potentially hesitant consumer would crimp profits — especially for the financial sector — in the first three months of the year.
Shares of National City dropped after the Midwest bank said it got a $7 billion cash infusion from equity investors, lowered its dividend and posted a $171 million loss for the first quarter.
Still, the market performed relatively well Monday, climbing back from an early plunge. Part of the reason was that not all the earnings Monday were downbeat. Merck said its profit nearly doubled in the first quarter because of a $1.4 billion distribution from a partner drug company and a slight rise in sales.
Investors remain cautious, but because they have already taken huge amounts of money out of stocks, the market appears stuck in a range — fluctuating back and forth as traders recoil at disappointing news but then take advantage of bargain prices.
“The percentage of cash on the sidelines as a percentage of market value is the highest it’s ever been,” said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus. “We have an acute level of risk aversion by investors — understandably so.”
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.34, or 0.19 percent, to 12,825.02, after dropping 98 points in early trading.
Broader stock indicators closed mixed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.16, or 0.16 percent, to 1,388.17, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 5.07, or 0.21 percent, to 2,408.04.
The technology-dominated Nasdaq got a boost from Apple Inc., which rose $7.12, or 4.4 percent, to $168.16 after an RBC Capital Markets analyst lifted his price target for the stock and predicted the company’s fiscal second-quarter results will surpass expectations.
Rising oil prices, meanwhile, weighed on some stocks, including airlines, but boosted energy companies such as Ex xon Mobil, which rose 26 cents to $94.26. Crude rose 79 cents to close at a record $117.48 a barrel on supply worries and speculative buying.
AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, fell 57 cents, or 6.5 percent, to $8.20; United Airlines parent UAL Corp. fell $1.42, or 6.2 percent, to $21.43; and Continental Airlines Inc. fell $1.19, or 5.4 percent, to $20.67.
