Wall Street capped a wobbly day for stocks with modest gains Monday, nudging the major indexes further into record territory.
The S&P 500 shrugged off an early slide and gained 0.2%. Consumer-oriented companies, banks, and energy and communications stocks helped lift the market. Those gains were kept in check by a pullback in health care and technology companies. Treasury yields mostly rose.
The modest gains followed a turbulent week for the market. A week ago, stocks fell sharply amid worries that fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus could threaten the economic recovery. But the swoon was short-lived, and the major stock indexes rallied to record highs Friday.
Trading was more muted Monday, as investors monitored a steady flow of corporate earnings and looked ahead to Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve is due to deliver an update on the economy and its interest rate policy.
Traders will listen for clues as to when the central bank might start winding down its extraordinary support measures for the economy and how concerned it is about inflation.
“The mood still revolves around inflation and whether it is transitory or not,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.
The S&P 500 rose 10.51 points to 4,422.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 82.76 points, or 0.2%, to 35,144.31. The Nasdaq composite added 3.72 points, or less than 0.1%, to 14,840.71.
Smaller companies fared slightly better than the broader market. The Russell 2000 index rose 7.27 points, or 0.3%, to 2,216.92.
Cruise lines, hotels and retailers were among the winners. Carnival rose 5.5%, Caesars Entertainment added 3.3%, and Gap rose 3%. Among stocks that lost ground: Drugmaker Moderna slid 3.7%, and chipmaker Nvidia fell 1.4%.
Treasury yields mostly rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.30% from 1.28% late Friday. The yield, which is a benchmark for interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, has been mostly falling amid increasing unease over the economy since climbing to about 1.75% in late March.
