U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday, turning a bit sluggish after a fairly good start. Among the major averages, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 moved on to record highs, while the Dow ended in negative territory.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates aided stocks earlier in the session. However, the mood turned a bit cautious as the day progressed with investors looking ahead to the data on consumer and producer prices, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony this week.

The Dow edged down 31.08 points or 0.08 percent to 39,344.79. The S&P 500 (SPI:SP500) ended higher by 5.66 points or 0.1 percent to 5,572.85, while the Nasdaq advanced 50.98 points or 0.28 percent to 18,403.74.

On the economic front, a leading indicator for payroll employment in the U.S. decreased in June, extending the declining trend over the past several months, and a signaled a slowdown in payroll hiring in the second half of the year, survey data from the Conference Board showed.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index fell to 110.27 in June from a downwardly revised 111.04 in May.

Networking stocks found good support. Shares of semiconductor and hardware companies also moved higher, contributing significantly to the gains of the Nasdaq.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) gained nearly 2 percent. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) shares rallied 4 percent. Intel surged more than 6 percent, and Dell Technologies climbed 5 percent.

Broadcom Inc., Home Depot, Quallcomm, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments, GE Aerospace, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Booking Holdings Inc., Citigroup, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Lowe’s and Analog Devices also closed notably higher.

Nike, Comcast Corporation, Abott Laboratories, McDonald’s Corporation, Cisco Systems, Wells Fargo, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Visa and Meta Platforms ended weak.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.3 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.9 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.6 percent.

Major European markets closed slightly down, as investors reacted to the results of French parliamentary elections, and awaited Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony this week for clues on U.S. central bank’s policy path.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.03 percent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended down 0.13 percent, France’s CAC 40 closed lower by 0.63 percent, and Germany’s DAX sett;ed 0.02 percent down.

SOURCE: RTTNEWS