US technology stocks rose on Monday boosted by shares of Web marketplace eBay Inc, which rose on a brokerage upgrade, but crude oil's climb to a fresh record and interest-rate worries, weighed on blue chip Dow industrial shares.
NYMEX crude oil futures ended up more than $1 and above $61 after hitting an all-time high on Monday following the death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and as traders worried over product supply after a series of refinery fires and run cuts in the US.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 17.76 points, or 0.17 percent, at 10,623.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.17 points, or 0.09 percent, at 1,235.35. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 10.55 points, or 0.48 percent, at 2,195.38.
US Treasury debt prices retreated, pushing yields higher, after a second monthly gain in a key manufacturing index suggested the industrial sector was on the mend.
Biotechnology companies Amgen rose 2.3 percent to $81.63 and Abgenix Inc climbed 3.2 percent to $10.70 after they said US regulators have granted colon cancer drug panitumumab fast-track status, bringing the much-awaited treatment one step closer to US approval.
EBay Inc gained 4.4 percent to $43.61, after Smith Barney raised its rating on the Internet auction house to "buy" from "hold."
Oil prices shot to a record $62.30 a barrel on Monday as the death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, US refinery outages and tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions rattled the market.
Higher oil prices are typically negative for stocks, as they increase corporate expenses and erode consumer discretionary spending.
Shares of industrial companies that are benchmarks of the US economy slipped with industrial and aerospace conglomerate United Technologies Corp falling 1.3 percent to $50.02.
But rising crude boosted shares of oil companies, which benefit from higher oil prices.
Exxon Mobil Corp rose nearly 1 percent to $59.23, while Chevron Corp moved up 42 cents to $58.43.
Besides Exxon, Dow component Johnson & Johnson, which is in the process of acquiring Guidant Corp, closed up 1 percent at $64.50 after Guidant said it received US approval to relaunch its top-selling implantable heart failure devices after a recall. Medical device maker Guidant rose nearly 4 percent to $71.32.
But consumer products company and Dow component Procter & Gamble's shares were off 0.6 percent to $55.32 on the New York Stock Exchange. P&G reported a 9 percent increase in quarterly profit, but lower margins and a forecast that failed to top Wall Street estimates led to profit-taking in a stock that ran up in July.
Shares of No 1 US home improvement retail chain Home Depot fell 1.5 percent to $42.86 on the New York Stock Exchange. On Friday, Home Depot said it received a federal grand jury subpoena seeking documents and information related to its handling, storage and disposal of hazardous waste.
Advancers outnumbered decliners on both the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of 1.2 to 1.
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