The stock market's rebound from the depths stalled Monday as the price of oil climbed, offsetting optimism engendered by better-than-expected earnings at Bank of America.
Although the market's major indexes showed modest losses Monday, the number of stocks advancing outpaced decliners by almost 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and by about 4 to 3 on Nasdaq.
Oil surged on concerns that a threat of new sanctions against Iran could escalate tensions in the Middle East, and on worries about a possible hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Crude futures rose $2.16 to $131.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
That quashed market enthusiasm in the wake of Bank of America's second-quarter results. Four of the five biggest U.S. banks have now reported better-than-expected earnings for the April-to-June period, raising hopes that the financial sector is starting to recover from the year-old credit crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.23 points, or 0.3%, to 11,467.34 after moving in and out of positive territory a number of times. Broader indexes posted smaller declines. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.68 point, or 0.1%, to 1,260.00. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 3.25 points, or 0.1%, to 2,279.53.
Stocks of smaller companies fared much better. The Russell 2,000 index of small-capitalization stocks rose 4.55 points, or 0.7%, to 697.63.
Monday's moves followed big three-day advances for the Dow and the S&P from nearly two-year lows last Tuesday. In the last three sessions of last week, the Dow surged 4.6% and the S&P rose 3.7%.
Yields on government bonds fell Monday along with the major stock indexes. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.04% from 4.08% late Friday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices advanced.
Shares of Bank of America rose $1.07, or 3.9%, to $28.56 after the company reported that bad mortgage debt pushed profit down 41%. But the report surpassed expectations thanks to a solid performance in operations not linked to housing.
An index of financial stocks in the S&P 500, which soared 21% over the preceding three trading days, jumped as much as 2.8% on the results, but finished the day down 0.8%.
