By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks wavered between mild losses and gains Monday as Wall Street tried to rebound from its worst single-day slide in nearly four months as it considered corporate-earnings reports.
“There’s a little bit of wait-and-see here, we’ve got a lot more earnings to come out with,” said Andrew Fitzpatrick, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates Inc. in Hinsdale, Ill.
Caterpillar Inc. CAT +0.18% fluctuated in and out of positive and negative terrain after the maker of mining and construction equipment reported quarterly earnings above estimates but came in light on revenue while lowering its outlook for the year. Read: Caterpillar cuts outlook.
“They did pre-announce that they would have to lower guidance, so I don’t think it’s a surprise to the markets,” said Fitzpatrick of Caterpillar’s reduced 2012 forecast.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.29% retreated 12.86 points to 13,330.65.
The S&P 500 index SPX -0.32% declined almost 2 points to 1,431.23, with utilities falling the most and technology the sole advancing sector among its 10 industry groups.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.01% gained 3.62 points, or 0.1%, to 3,009.24.
Hasbro Inc. HAS -0.77% shares fell 0.5% after the toy company reported a third-quarter profit that beat expectations but sales were below market estimates. Read: Hasbro earnings drop.
Decliners ran just ahead of advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, were 145 million shares traded as of 10:50 a.m. Eastern. Composite volume topped 857 million.
In New York, oil for November delivery CLX2 -0.46% fell 67 cents to $89.38 a barrel, while the most-actively traded December futures contract CLZ2 -0.58% shed 56 cents to $89.46 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, gathered in Vienna Monday, the first day of a two-session meeting to pick a new secretary-general.
The U.S. dollar DXY -0.08% fell against other currencies including the euro EURUSD +0.30% . Treasury prices declined with the yield on the 10-year note 10_YEAR +2.15% , used in determining the interest rate on consumer loans, at 1.800%.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
