U.S. Stocks Turning In Another Mixed Performance

The major U.S. stock indexes are turning in another mixed performance during trading on Monday after ending the previous session on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

While the Dow and the S&P 500 are pulling back off last Friday’s record closing highs, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has edged slightly higher.

Currently, the Nasdaq is up 14.63 points or 0.1 percent at 14,850.40, while the Dow is down 97.67 points or 0.3 percent at 35,110.84 and the S&P 500 is down 7.17 points or 0.2 percent at 4,429.35.

Stocks continue to turn in a mixed performance following last Friday’s better than expected U.S. jobs data.

The closely watched report from the Labor Department added to economic optimism but also raised concerns about the outlook for monetary policy.

Later this week, reports on consumer and producer price inflation may also impact forecasts for when the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its asset purchases.

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, oil service stocks have moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 2.7 percent.

The sell-off by oil service stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, with crude for September delivery plunging $2.47 to $65.81 a barrel.

Considerable weakness is also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Gold stocks are also seeing significant weakness amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 2.2 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.1 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi fell by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a lackluster performance on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is nearly unchanged and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside over the course of the day. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.5 basis points at 1.315 percent.