Stocks Close Mostly Lower But Off Worst Levels - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After moving to the downside early in the session, stocks remained mostly negative throughout the trading day on Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts, pulling back further off the record closing high set last Thursday.

The Dow edged down 36.30 points or 0.2 percent to 21,235.67, the Nasdaq fell 32.45 points or 0.5 percent to 6,1765.46 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.38 points or 0.1 percent to 2,429.39.

The weakness on Wall Street was partly due to profit taking, with traders cashing in on some of the recent strength in the markets.

Technology stocks showed a substantial move to the downside, dragging the Nasdaq down further off its record highs.

Meanwhile, traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement scheduled to Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point, traders will be paying close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Computer hardware stocks saw considerable weakness, extending the pullback seen last Friday. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index slumped by 1.1 percent.

Tobacco, internet and software stocks also saw considerable weakness, while significant strength was visible among trucking stocks.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.2 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has edged down by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index slumped by 1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved modestly lower, extending the downward trend seen over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.4 basis points to 2.213 percent.