NEW YORK, July 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday as investors were awaiting a batch of earnings reports later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 8.02 points, or 0.04 percent, to 21,629.72. The S&P 500 lost 0.13 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,459.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.97 points, or 0.03 percent, to 6,314.43.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Microsoft, and eBay are among the major companies scheduled to release quarterly results this week.
According to S&P Capital IQ, overall earnings are expected to grow by 6.2 percent in the second quarter. Earnings in the first quarter rose by approximately 15 percent.
With no major data due out on Monday, market participants also kept an eye on the oil prices. U.S. crude rose 5.2 percent last week and started the week hovering around 46 U.S. dollars a barrel. Over the past three months, oil prices have fallen about 12 percent as global oversupply concerns weighed on the market.
Last week, all three major indices posted sharp gains as investors digested a batch of economic data from the country and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen' s latest testimony. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq went up 1.04 percent, 1.41 percent and 2.59 percent, respectively.
