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US stocks mostly lower despite upbeat data

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Stocks have finished mostly lower despite a stronger-than-expected manufactured durable goods report and a nearly 2 per cent lift from Caterpillar earnings.

At the close on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14.05 points (0.10 per cent) to 13,881.93.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 2.78 points (0.18 per cent) to 1,500.18.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.59 (0.15 per cent) to 3,154.30, boosted by Apple.

Orders for manufactured durable goods rose to $US230.7 billion ($A221.62 billion), up 4.6 per cent from November, the Commerce Department said. Analysts had expected a rise of just 1.6 per cent.

But December pending home sales, which were projected to be flat, instead fell by 4.3 per cent.

Monday’s lacklustre equity action came on the heels of rallies that have lifted stock indices to multi-year highs.

Slumping technology company Apple reversed recent losses and picked up 2.3 per cent, replacing ExxonMobil as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation. ExxonMobil fell 0.7 per cent.

Yahoo!, which reported stronger-than-expected earnings after the market closed, fell 0.3 per cent, but jumped 4.5 per cent in after-hours trading.

Caterpillar gained 2 per cent after posting a big year-on-year drop in quarterly profit but suggesting business could pick up in the second half of 2013.

Energy company Hess surged 6.1 per cent after it announced it was selling refining and terminal operations in the United States and placing more focus on exploration and production.

Research in Motion, which will launch its newest BlackBerry smartphone this week, gave up 7.8 per cent.

Industrial coatings maker PPG lost 2.0 per cent after the closing of the share-exchange period related to the merger of its commodity chemicals business with Georgia Gulf Corp, to become the PPG spinoff Axiall. Georgia Gulf gained 8.6 per cent.

Menswear retailer Jos. A. Bank dived 15.1 per cent after warning that its fiscal 2012 profit was expected to be 20 per cent lower than the prior year, citing lower sales because of unseasonably warm winter weather.

Animal goods retailer PetSmart lost 9.1 per cent following a downgrade by Nomura Securities.

Bond prices continued to fall. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.97 per cent from 1.95 per cent late on Friday, while the yield on the 30-year bond increased to 3.15 per cent from 3.13 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.