NEW YORK — Investors waiting for earnings reports to flow in traded cautiously Monday, giving up early gains and leaving the U.S. market narrowly mixed. The Dow Jones industrials reached a new 2009 trading high, edging closer to 10,000.
Volume was light because of the Columbus Day holiday. Bond markets were closed and there were no economic reports.
A weaker dollar and a spike in oil prices above US$73 drove energy and materials prices higher, but weakness in technology and industrial shares held the market back. Stocks got an early boost from a better-than-expected profit report from Dutch company Royal Philips Electronics. That sent Britain’s leading stock indicator to its highest level in a year.
Investors looked ahead to the flurry of earnings due this week from key companies including Intel Corp., Johnson & Johnson, IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. Top U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. will issue reports as well.
The Dow traded as high as 9,931, just 69 points away from 10,000, a level not seen in a year.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow closed up 20.86, or 0.2 per cent, at 9,885.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.70, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,076.19 while the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.14, or 0.01 per cent, to 2,139.14.