NEW YORK — Stock indexes were mostly lower Monday, with telecommunications companies leading the way down.
AT&T fell the most out of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average. Its competitor, Verizon Wireless, is expected to announce today that it will start selling Apple’s iPhone, breaking AT&T’s long exclusive hold on iPhone customers.
AT&T’s stock dropped 1.8 percent to $28.34. Apple gained 1.9 percent to $342.45.
“The market is just swinging around,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla., who helps manage $240 billion. “There are the bond auctions in Europe this week. The truth is there has been too much bullishness, and we may be due for a pause or pullback.
“On the other hand, we can’t ignore the fact that earnings will probably continue to surprise on the upside because the economy is doing pretty darn good.”
The S&P 500 has risen 88 percent from its March 2009 low on government measures to stimulate the economy and as companies reported better- than-estimated earnings. The benchmark gauge for American equities has still advanced for six straight weeks, the longest streak since April, as stronger-than-estimated data lifted confidence in the world’s largest economy.
Stocks spent most of the day lower ahead of the latest round of corporate earnings reports. After the market closed, Alcoa reported that rising sales of aluminum products helped it turn a profit of 24 cents a share in its fourth quarter. The results topped analysts’ estimates of 18 cents a share.
The week started with news of two big corporate deals. DuPont, a major chemical company, said it would buy a Danish foodmaker for $5.8 billion. Duke Energy said it will buy Progress Energy in a $13 billion deal that would create one of the country’s largest utilities. Duke fell 1.2 percent to $17.58.
The Dow fell for the third straight day, losing 37.31 points, 0.3 percent, to close at 11,637.45. The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 1.75, 0.1 percent, to 1,269.75. The Nasdaq composite gained 4.63, 0.2 percent, to 2,707.80.
Italy, Spain and Portugal are scheduled to sell bonds this week. If the sales go poorly, it could further weaken confidence in Europe’s financial system.
“Italy and Spain are the big wild cards,” said Paul Zemsky, the head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management. “If they got into trouble, there’s not enough money to bail them out.”
