The slump in crude oil prices and disappointing U.S. home sales data helped nudge stocks mostly lower on Monday, pulling the market back from an all-time high reached last week.
The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index spent much of the day hovering slightly below their most-recent highs. But the Nasdaq composite mounted a late-afternoon comeback that extended its recent win streak for the ninth day in a row.
Oil drilling companies and homebuilders notched broad declines, while traders bid up shares in utilities stocks.
Investors were looking ahead to the start of a two-day round of Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen. The remarks could provide insight into when the central bank will begin raising its key interest rate from near zero.
“The markets are in a holding pattern,” said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer of Wells Fargo Private Bank. “We’ll have some very interesting information coming up from Janet Yellen (Tuesday) and Wednesday, so the markets are looking at that very closely.”
The Dow ended down 23.60 points, or 0.1 percent, to 18,116.84. The S&P 500 fell 0.64 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,109.66. The Nasdaq gained 5.01 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,960.97. The index, which has yet to reclaim its record high from the dot-com era, is now within 87 points of that March 2000 peak.
The price of oil fell for the fourth day in a row as the return of a Libyan oil field raised expectations for more oil supply. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.36 to close at $49.45 a barrel in New York.
That helped drag down shares in several offshore oil drilling and oilfield services companies.
A midmorning report showing that sales of previously occupied homes tumbled 4.9 percent last month sent most homebuilder shares lower.
“The home numbers were a little disappointing,” said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management.
