Energy companies lead U.S. stock indexes mostly higher

Another day of listless trading on Wall Street ended today with the major stock indexes closing out having shifted marginally from the day before.

Gains in energy and technology companies were canceled out by losses among banks, phone companies and other sectors.

A rebound in crude oil prices helped lift energy stocks, which led the gainers. Banks posted the largest losses.

Investors were making modest moves ahead of Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s testimony before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, and the release of the Fed’s Beige Book, an economic snapshot used by the central bank to gauge U.S. economic trends.

The market will key in on both as it tries to discern how Fed policy on interest rates may play out this year and next, said Sameer Samana, global quantitative strategist for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

“Any time you have those types of potentially market-moving events, especially with policy being such a big focus right now, people are always a little hesitant” to make big market moves, Samana said.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.90 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,425.53. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.55 points to 21,409.07. The Nasdaq composite rose 16.91 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,193.30. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 4.58 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,413.05.

Nine of the 11 industry groups in the S&P’s 500 index declined. More stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.36 percent from 2.38 percent late Monday.

The major indexes got off to an uneven start early on, then veered sharply lower before midday as news broke that President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., had released an email chain from last year that shows the Trump scion discussing plans to hear damaging information on Hillary Clinton from what was described to him as a Russian government effort to aid his father’s campaign.

The news stoked investor worries over whether the headlines could lead to more political uncertainty in Washington and potentially hold up tax cuts, regulatory reform and other business-friendly policy initiatives that the market has been expecting. But the market mostly bounced back from the stumble by the end of the day.

Mostly, investors appeared to be taking a wait-and-see approach ahead of the star of Yellen’s two-day appearance before Congress.

Starting Wednesday, traders will be listening for clues as to how aggressively the Fed will continue to raise rates and start to unwind its big bond-buying program. The latest U.S. economic reports, particularly for jobs, have been upbeat.

“Our base case scenario for the rest of the year is we’ll get one additional hike likely toward the end of the year,” said Nadia Lovell, U.S. equity strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

Beyond the Fed, investors were also looking ahead to the next corporate earnings reporting season, which ramps up this week. PepsiCo served up its results early today. Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are among the big companies due to report their latest quarterly results this week.

“People are waiting to get more clarity with earnings kicking off in earnest with the banks on Thursday and Friday,” Lovell said. “Financials and banks usually give the best barometer on the economy itself.”

Energy sector companies led the gainers today. Devon Energy rose 80 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $30.53. Newfield Exploration added 47 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $26.83.

Financials companies took heavy losses. T. Rowe Price Group slid $1.89, or 2.5 percent, to $75.16. Invesco lost 75 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $35.72.

PepsiCo reported better-than-expected quarterly results as higher prices for drinks and snacks boosted both profit and revenue for the beverage and packaged foods company. PepsiCo’s sales volumes in North America were soft, however. That appeared to weigh on the company’s shares, which slid 53 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $113.74.

Rent-A-Center was among the stocks that made big moves. The company climbed 8.9 percent after its board of directors rejected a takeover offer of $15 a share from Vintage Capital Management. Rent-A-Center rose 99 cents to $12.09.

The parent company of the disappearing-message service Snapchat slumped a day after it closed below its IPO price. Snap slid $1.52, or 8.9 percent, to $15.47.

Energy futures closed broadly higher.

The price of oil rebounded after dipping earlier in the day. Benchmark U.S. crude picked up 64 cents, or 1.4 percent, to settle at $45.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 64 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $47.52 a barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline inched up 2 cents to $1.52 a gallon. Heating oil added 2 cents to $1.48 a gallon. Natural gas rose 12 cents, or 4 percent, to $3.05 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In other commodities trading, gold rose $1.50 to $1,214.70 an ounce. Silver added 12 cents to $15.75 an ounce. Copper inched up 2 cents to $2.67 a pound.

Major markets overseas were mixed today.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 0.1 percent, while France’s CAC40 fell 0.5 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.5 percent. Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6 percent on expectations the yen will weaken further against the dollar as the central bank strives to keep long-term bond yields low. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.5 percent, while the Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.6 percent.

The dollar fell to 113.84 from 114.05 yen late Monday. The euro strengthened to $1.1476 from $1.1403.