NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly lower Monday in the final trading session before first-quarter earnings season gets underway.
Traders are concerned about the effect of higher oil and food costs on corporate margins. Stocks turned lower in afternoon trading after the International Monetary Fund said higher gas prices could slow the pace of the U.S. economy and offset the boost from the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying stimulus program.
The low trading volume seen in recent weeks “shows a balancing out of the bullish and bearish views waiting for more information,” said John Prestbo, executive director and editor of Dow Jones Indexes.
“Investors have been bidding up stocks because profits in a lot of companies have grown, but they don’t know if that can continue, especially if companies have to start hiring in a big way, since labor is the biggest cost,” he said. “They are looking for those cracks that are there and have to be revealed at some point, so both sides are getting good seats in the bleachers and waiting for the show to begin.”
After a week in which the benchmark indexes finished close to where they began, the meandering persisted Monday.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 1.06 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to close at 12,381.11.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 3.71, or 0.3 percent, to 1,324.46. Energy companies fell 1.9 percent, the most of any of the 10 company groups that make up the index.
The Nasdaq composite lost 8.91, or 0.3 percent, to 2,771.51.
After the market closed, Alcoa reported a first-quarter profit on higher aluminum prices and sales, partially offset by a weaker dollar and higher energy and raw-materials costs.
Analysts have been hopeful that overall corporate earnings will come in ahead of expectations for the ninth consecutive quarter, but they still have a long list of worries, including high oil prices and an aftershock that struck Japan on the one-month anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
