Stocks traded in a narrow range Monday with low volume that was due in part to the closing of some markets for holidays in other parts of the globe.
Another day of lower crude oil prices put pressure on energy stocks, which fell 0.5%. WTI oil ended above its low of the day but still fell 0.2% to $39.39 a barrel.
Other sectors in the red included utilities, off 0.4%, and health care and technology, each off 0.3%.
On the other side of the ledger, consumer discretionary and consumer staples each gained 0.5%, and materials and financials rose 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
In corporate news, Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) advanced 1.3% after an analyst said the biotech firm was maintaining its dominance in the hepatitis C market despite the launch of a less expensive treatment by Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK). And JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) rose 2.7% on reports that it made a bid for Virgin America Inc (VA), which jumped 10.3%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.89% from 1.91% on Thursday as bond prices rose.
At Monday’s close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20 points to 17,535, the S&P 500 gained a point at 2,037, the Nasdaq fell 7 points to 4,767 and the Russell 2000 was up less than a point at 1,080.
The NYSE Composite’s primary exchange traded less than 634 million shares with total volume of 2.8 billion shares. The Nasdaq crossed 1.4 billion shares. On the Big Board, advancers outpaced decliners by 1.3-to-1, and on the Nasdaq, decliners led by 1.2-to-1.
On one of the lowest volume days of the year, the Dow Jones Transportation Average continued a decline that began on March 22, when the index backed away from the March 21 high at 8,114 and high-volume close at 8,075.
The failure to hold above the support line at 7,980 is not good news for the bulls, who have focused lately on the transports lately.
Conclusion
On such a low-volume day with limited global participation, it is difficult to draw many conclusions. But the straight line decline in the Dow Jones Transportation Average from its March high cannot be considered anything but bearish.
The focus this week will be on the stock market’s reaction to a plethora of economic reports.
Today’s Trading Landscape
To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today, click here.
For a list of this week’s economic reports due out, click here.
