Stocks sputtered late Monday, eking out a mostly higher finish ahead of a busy calendar this week that features potentially market-moving testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and an eagerly awaited February jobs report. Early gains for stocks evaporated as Treasury yields pushed back to the upside after an initial retreat.
What’s happening
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.12%
rose 40.47 points, or 0.1%, to close at 33,431.44.
The S&P 500
SPX,
+0.07%
edged up 2.78 points, or 0.1%, to end at 4,048.42.
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.11%
gave up an early gain to fall 13.27 points or 0.1%, to 11,675.73.
Stocks bounced last week, with the Dow snapping a run of four straight weekly losses and the S&P 500 breaking a three-week streak. The Dow gained 1.8% last week, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.9% and the Nasdaq Composite added 2%. Need to Know: Why the stock-market rally can keep going, says Morgan Stanley strategist who only recently warned of a death zoneWhat’s drove markets The S&P 500 recovered the 4,000 mark last week as investors welcomed the sight of benchmark bond yields pulling back below 4%, despite a report on Friday showing that the U.S. services sector remains in robust health. “Last week ended the [S&P 500’s] string of three consecutive down weeks, and while the index’s net decline was much smaller than other recent three-week downturns, snapping the losing streak hasn’t necessarily resulted in an uninterrupted rally,” said Chris Larkin, managing director for trading at Morgan Stanley’s E-Trade. “Traders are still anticipating a 25-basis-point hike in a few weeks, and investors should prepare for volatility if the jobs read surprises in either direction, especially as some Fed officials have indicated a 50-basis-point hike remains on the table,” Larkin wrote in emailed comments. See: Why the February jobs report is unlikely to reverse a January blowout in this week’s key economic data release Also read: Pair of Wall Street firms see Friday’s job data coming in way above consensus The 10-year Treasury yield
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.964%,
which hit 4.081% last Thursday before pulling back, extended a decline in early trading Monday. While that helped equities build on Friday’s big gains, yields, which move opposite to price, reversed in after …