US stocks have closed little changed as investors weigh a weak US housing market report and a breakthrough deal between Iran and major powers over its controversial nuclear program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday rose a scant 7.77 points (0.05 per cent) to 16,072.54, a record high.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 2.28 (0.13 per cent) to 1,802.49, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite inched up 2.92 (0.07 per cent) to 3,994.57. Earlier the Nasdaq topped the 4,000 mark for the first time since the 2000 dot-com bust.
Markets sold off in the last hour of the session in subdued trade at the start of the holiday-shortened week. Markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving Day and have a shortened session on Friday.
The main indices opened with modest gains as investors digested news that the US and five other major powers had struck an interim agreement with Iran over the weekend.
The six-month agreement would be a preliminary step towards resolving the major powers’ concerns that major oil producer Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
But stocks lost momentum as the National Association of Realtors reported that US pending home sales slowed for the fifth straight month in October.
And, after the Dow and S&P closed at record highs on Friday, markets were taking a breather, said Peter Cardillo of Rockwell Global Capital.
Leading social network stocks fell sharply: Twitter lost 4.7 per cent and Facebook 3.1 per cent.
Dow member Wal-Mart Stores rose 0.8 per cent after the global retail titan named Doug McMillon, a company veteran who heads its international operations, to replace chief executive Mike Duke when Duke retires early next year.
Chipmaker Qualcomm fell 0.6 per cent after saying on Monday that it faces an antitrust probe in China.
Nasdaq heavyweight Apple added 0.8 per cent after buying PrimeSense, an Israeli motion-sensing technology company. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Struggling department store chain JC Penney jumped 3.6 per cent despite being booted from the S&P 500 index, effective the coming Friday. The bump-up came after Imperial Capital raised the company’s bond ratings to “hold” from “sell”, according to The Street.com.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury edged down to 2.73 per cent from 2.75 per cent on Friday, while the 30-year dipped to 3.82 per cent from 3.84 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
