In holiday-thin trading, US stocks gained while the dollar rose as investors considered another Federal Reserve interest-rate hike in the aftermath of Friday's US jobs data.
The S&P 500 index gained 0.1% after falling as much as 0.8% intraday. The Nasdaq 100 Index recovered from a 1.5% loss to end the day little changed. For the past three weeks, the tech-heavy benchmark has risen as investors piled into large-cap stocks in the sector. The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury note was hovering around 4%.
The prospect of another rate hike weighed on technology stocks, and Apple report that personal computer shipments fell sharply exacerbated the slide. Semiconductor companies such as Micron Technology assisted in mitigating tech losses after rival Samsung Electronics announced on Friday that it would reduce memory chip production.
Volumes were light in US equity markets, as much of Europe was closed for the holiday. At this time of day, trading in S&P 500 companies was more than 20% lower than the 30-day average.
On Friday, a strong US employment report boosted expectations for another Fed rate hike. Traders are increasing their bets on a rate hike in May ahead of Wednesday's consumer price report, which is expected to show a 0.4% monthly increase in core CPI.
