The Dow edged higher to a fresh record after topping 16,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 breached 1,800 but pulled back in late trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a meager gain of 14.32 points (0.09 per cent) at 15,976.02 on Monday after reaching an intraday high of 16,030.28 shortly after the market opened. It was the blue-chip Dow’s fourth consecutive record close.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 6.65 (0.37 per cent) at 1,791.53, falling heavily in late-afternoon trade after earlier scaling above 1,800 for the first time.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 36.90 (0.93 per cent) at 3,949.07.
“Stocks turned lower in the final hour of trading after Carl Icahn expressed a cautious outlook on equity markets,” Wells Fargo Advisors said in a market note.
“The comments added to existing trepidation following a six-week rally on the S&P” and ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s late Tuesday, the firm said.
Art Hogan, head of product strategy for equity research at Lazard Capital Markets, said Sunday’s news of major aeroplane orders for Boeing and Airbus catalysed markets.
Dow member Boeing rose 1.7 per cent after winning more than $US100 billion in new aeroplane orders at the Dubai Airshow on Sunday.
JPMorgan Chase, another Dow component, rose 1.6 per cent after announcing a $US4.5 billion settlement Friday to compensate 21 institutional investors for losses on mortgage securities it and Bear Stearns sold before the financial crisis.
Microsoft, another blue chip, retreated 1.7 per cent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded it to “underperform” citing “transition risk” over the company’s search for a new chief executive to replace outgoing head Steve Ballmer.
Heavyweight Apple dropped 1.2 per cent on the Nasdaq. Other tech stocks stumbled. Facebook tumbled 6.5 per cent, Tesla sank 10.2 per cent and Netflix lost 2.3 per cent.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dropped to 2.68 per cent from 2.71 per cent Friday, while the 30-year dipped to 3.77 per cent from 3.80 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
