By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Dow ended in positive territory at the conclusion of a choppy session on Monday and gold advanced as investors looked for signs of progress in tariff negotiations at the top of an eventful week of corporate earnings and economic data.
Tech sector weakness pulled the Nasdaq lower, while the dollar advanced against a basket of world currencies and safe-haven gold rebounded.
"We had a nice rally last week," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "But in the absence of a major positive catalyst, I think it’s going to be harder for equities to climb much higher from here."
Mayfield called Monday’s market gyration "just a little bit of drift, with a lack of catalysts and a lot concentrated in the back half of the week."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday many top U.S. trading partners have made "very good" tariff proposals, adding that China’s recent moves to exempt certain U.S. goods from its retaliatory tariffs showed a willingness to de-escalate tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
"We were at a point where, unless we get a major resolution on the trade front, or big upside from some of the economic data or earnings this week, I think we’re in this trading range that I feel we’re going to be trapped in for a while," Mayfield said.
Despite hopes for progress, economists polled by Reuters see a high risk of global recession due to Trump’s tariffs. Three months ago, they projected the world economy growing at a healthy clip.
First-quarter earnings season heats up this week, with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) among the high-profile results on the docket.
While no U.S. economic data were released on Monday, the week is back-end loaded with closely watched indicators such as Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index, an advance take on U.S. GDP and the April employment report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 114.09 points, or 0.28%, to 40,227.59, the S&P 500 rose 3.54 points, or 0.06%, to 5,528.75 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 16.81 points, or 0.10%, to 17,366.13.
European shares rose as investors remained optimistic that U.S.-China trade tensions would wane.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.35 points, or 0.41%, to 828.09.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.53%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 10.13 points, or 0.49%.
Emerging market stocks rose 6.35 points, or 0.58%, to 1,103.45. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed higher by 0.62%, to 574.20, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 134.25 points, or 0.38%, to 35,839.99.
U.S. Treasury yields eased ahead of critical earnings and economic data this week.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 5.6 basis points to 4.21%, from 4.266% late on Friday.
The 30-year bond yield fell 5.2 basis points to 4.6862% from 4.738% late on Friday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 7.7 basis points to 3.685%, from 3.762% late on Friday.
The dollar fell as investors awaited trade talks progress and girded themselves for an eventful week.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.8% to 98.93, with the euro up 0.51% at $1.1422.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 1.13% to 142.05.
Sterling strengthened 0.9% to $1.3434.
The Mexican peso weakened 0.21% versus the dollar at 19.57.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.26% versus the greenback to C$1.38 per dollar.
Canadians are going to the polls on Monday after an election campaign in which U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and musings about annexing Canada became the central issue.
Crude oil softened as investors weighed a potential supply increase from OPEC+ amid ongoing trade uncertainties.
U.S. crude fell 1.54% to settle at $62.05 per barrel, while Brent settled at $65.86 per barrel, down 1.51% on the day.
Gold prices advanced in opposition to the easing greenback as bargain-hunting kicked in.
Spot gold rose 0.98% to $3,350.59 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.06% to $3,284.50 an ounce.