By Sue Chang and Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch

Arconic tops S&P 500 losers, down 6%

The Dow industrials on Monday ended a string of daily losses at four, but the Nasdaq Composite faltered, putting pressure on the broader market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.79 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,409.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 18.10 points, or 0.2%, to 6,251 as Apple Inc.(AAPL) dropped 0.3%, and Facebook Inc.(FB) and Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL) dropped about 1% each.

The S&P 500 finished up 0.77 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,439.07, with so-called defensive sectors, such as utilities and telecoms, leading gains. The technology sector, which was trading up 0.7% in early trade, reversed course to end down 0.6%.

For the first half of 2017, the benchmark S&P 500 is on track to advance about 9%, with some analysts suggesting that the second half will likely be positive as well.

"When the 500's first-half price gain was between 7% and 12%...the market went on to record an average price rise of 5.1% during the second half and posted a positive performance an above-average 87% of the time," wrote Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, a market research firm.

Stovall's calculations would put the S&P 500 at 2,565 by the end of 2017.

"While this forward six-month level for the S&P 500 approximates our 12-month target, based on current EPS and inflation projections, history implies that we may be underestimating the market's rest-of-year potential," Stovall said.

Volatile moves in crude-oil prices early in the session also contributed to dampening appetite for stocks.

Weaker-than-expected durable-goods orders may also have limited gains for equities. Both the dollar and Treasury yields weakened after the release of the report. Durable-goods orders (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/orders-for-durable-goods-backslide-again-2017-06-26) slipped 1.1% last month following a similar drop in April, disappointing economists who expected a smaller decline.

"After vast improvement at the start of the year, manufacturers have recorded fewer than expected durable-goods orders for the second consecutive month," said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel Fixed Income, in a note. "Short-lived optimism, no doubt, from pro-growth policies ushered in by the Trump administration have been replaced by a more lackluster reality of a little improved domestic growth and consumption profile."

Read:Want to know where the stock market's headed over next 6 months? Don't ask OPEC (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/want-to-know-where-the-stock-markets-headed-over-the-next-6-months-dont-ask-opec-2017-06-24)

Stock movers:Facebook (FB) declined 1% after first gaining on news that the social-networking giant is talking to Hollywood studios and agencies about producing TV-quality shows (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-in-talks-with-hollywood-to-produce-tv-quality-shows-2017-06-26), according to people familiar with the talks.

U.S.-listed shares of Nestlé SA(NESN.EB) jumped 3.9% following news that billionaire activist investor Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC hedge fund has taken a $3.5 billion stake in the consumer-products giant (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/daniel-loebs-hedge-fund-takes-35b-nestle-stake-2017-06-25).

Arconic Inc.(ARNC) shares sank 6%, topping the losers on the S&P 500. The company said it would halt sales of one type of aluminum cladding (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/arconic-stops-selling-cladding-panels-involved-in-london-tower-fire-2017-06-26) for use in high-rise buildings after at least 79 people died in a fire at the Grenfell Tower in London. The material was suspected to have partly contributed to the spread of the inferno.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc.(HTZ) surged 14% on a Bloomberg News report that the rental car company will be leasing a fleet of its cars to Apple to test the iPhone maker's self-driving technology (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hertz-shares-jump-14-on-bloomberg-report-of-self-driving-partnership-with-apple-2017-06-26).

Shares of Yum Brands Inc.(YUM) closed 0.1% lower, erasing gains from news of Australian company Collins Foods Ltd. (CKF.AU) buying 28 KFC restaurants from the fast food-chain operator (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yum-brands-rises-18-premarket-after-sale-of-28-kfc-outlets-to-collins-foods-2017-06-26).

Economic news and Fed speakers: The Chicago Fed national activity index fell to negative 0.26 in May from 0.57 in April.

See: MarketWatch's Economic Calendar (http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendars/economic).

A quarterly mortgage sentiment survey from Fannie Mae showed U.S. lenders are preparing for tougher times ahead and planning to relax lending standards, according to Reuters.

In central-bank news, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at a speech in Australia that gradual hikes in interest rates are needed to avoid overheating the U.S. economy (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-williams-says-gradual-rate-hikes-are-needed-for-growth-2017-0). Separately in Salzburg, Austria, Fed Gov. Jerome Powell said he sees room to ease some banking rules in the U.S (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-powell-reiterates-his-call-for-relaxing-some-banking-regulations-2017-06-26).

Other markets: The dollar rose 0.2% against peers while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.13%. Meanwhile gold stumbled 1%.

Asian stock markets closed higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-gain-thanks-to-tech-stocks-and-commodities-2017-06-25) across the board, serving as a tailwind for European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-propelled-higher-by-italian-banks-nestle-shares-2017-06-26).

--Sara Sjolin and Anora Mahmudova contributed to this article

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2017 16:53 ET (20:53 GMT)