US stocks have ended little changed as investors took a breather after last week’s hefty gains.

At the closing bell on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.64 points (0.06 per cent) to 15,390.01.

The broad-based S&P 500 was essentially flat, trading at 1,744.51, up 0.01 point, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tacked on 5.77 (0.15 per cent) at 3,920.18.

Monday’s tepid performance came on the heels of last week’s rally following a US budget deal late on Wednesday that ended a partial government shutdown and an agreement on the debt ceiling that averted a default. All three stock indices ended the week solidly higher, with the S&P 500 notching a new record.

“Obviously the market has made some nice gains,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. Stocks “will probably pull back a little bit from an overbought situation”.

Cardillo said that so far the quarter’s earnings reports have exceeded expectations, but he cautioned that revenue growth remains weak.

Investors are looking ahead to Tuesday’s release of September jobs data, which had been delayed from October 4 due to the partial government shutdown.