NEW YORK — Investors waiting for earnings reports to flow in traded cautiously Monday, giving up early gains and leaving the market narrowly mixed. The Dow Jones industrials reached a new 2009 trading high, edging closer to 10,000.
Volume was light because of Columbus Day. Bond markets were closed, and there were no economic reports.
A weaker dollar and a spike in oil prices above $73 drove energy and materials prices higher, but weakness in technology and industrial shares held the market back. Stocks got an early boost from a better-than-expected profit report from Dutch company Royal Philips Electronics. That sent Britain’s leading stock indicator to its highest level in a year.
Investors looked ahead to the flurry of earnings due this week from key companies including Intel, Johnson & Johnson, IBM and General Electric. Top U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America will issue reports as well.
The Dow traded as high as 9,931, just 69 points away from 10,000, a level not seen in a year. The index rose for the third day in a row and has gained in five out of the past six sessions.
The Dow closed up 20.86, or 0.2 percent, at 9,885.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 4.70, or 0.4 percent, to 1,076.19, also its highest close in a year.
The Nasdaq composite fell 0.14, or 0.01 percent, to 2,139.14.
Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was very low at 3.76 billion shares versus 3.85 billion Friday.
Analysts said traders are generally optimistic about the upcoming third-quarter earnings reports, especially after aluminum maker Alcoa — the first of the 30 companies that make up the Dow to report earnings — said last week that it turned a profit for the first time in nine months.
“There is some key stuff coming and the market has anticipated that it’s going to be good,” said John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan.
The dollar mostly fell against other major currencies, helping to drive commodity prices higher. A weak dollar makes commodities more attractive to foreign investors. Gold rose $8.90 to $1,057.50 an ounce, while oil prices rose $1.50 to settle at $73.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
