Investing.com – The Dow closed higher Monday as energy and financials offset losses in tech led by Apple.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.76%, the S&P 500 rose 0.54%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.38%.
Energy stocks powered the broader market higher, led by a rally in Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) as analysts said the company was on track to deliver strong growth.
"Chevron, which saw its output in the Permian basin grow by about 80% to more than 330,000 barrels of oil and gas a day, appears likely to raise its production guidance for growth early next year," said Piper Jaffray's Simmons & Co. The company's output, excluding asset sales, is on track to be at the upper end of its 4% to 7% growth expectations, Simmons added.
The rally in energy arrived even as U.S. oil prices gave up their intraday gains to settle lower after the US granted waivers to several Iranian crude customers as sanctions on Iran kicked in on Monday.
Financials also extended the rally on the back of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRKa) strong 5% rally in the wake of the conglomerate's blowout quarterly results released over the weekend.
Tech, however, threatened to spoil the upbeat day on Wall Street, led by a slump in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) after Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple to neutral from a buy, owing to expectations of lower iPhone sales.
"Calendar fourth-quarter guidance reflects our cautious view on weaker than expected sell-through and production reductions for iPhone XS/XR," Rosenblatt analyst Jun Zhang said in a note.
The S&P 500 tech sector closed 0.18% lower, while the communication services sector, which includes Netflix, Facebook, Alphabet and telecom companies fell 0.32%.
Investor sentiment on stocks was also challenged by expectations that the U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday, will result in divided Congress, with Democrats tipped to take control of the House.
"Markets remain in nervous form ahead of the US mid-term elections, with tech stocks in particular seeing heavy selling," said IG's Chris Beauchamp.
On the economic front, U.S. services activity in October eased from a 21-month highs seen last month, but topped economists' expectations, pointing to underlying strength in the economy.
ISM nonmanufacturing data for October showed a reading of 60.3, beating expectations of 59.3.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG) and Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY), Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.