Investing.com - The big picture suggests a stock market marking time until the Federal Reserve makes its decision on interest rates on Wednesday
But don't tell that to Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) or Apple NASDAQ:AAPL). All moved smartly higher on the day. Intel jumped 1.8% as investors continued to cheer the sale of its modem business to Apple. That will help focus the company on chips for networking and other processes.
Apple moved up 0.9% ahead of Tuesday's third-quarter earnings report.
And Disney moved 1.2% higher -- and hit an all-time high of $147.15 -- in part because of a big opening weekend for its remake of "The Lion King." The film grossed grossed a reported $185 million over the weekend, with audiences surveyed giving it an "A" rating, despite lukewarm reviews.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.15. The Nasdaq Composite index dropped 0.44%, with small-cap stocks the weaker end of the group. The Dow Jones industrials moved up 0.11%.
Eighteen of the 30 Dow stocks were higher. The worst of the Dow stocks was Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), which fell 3.8% after second-quarter results failed to excite investors. It did sell its Upjohn business to Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL). Visa (NYSE:V) suffered a small loss of just 0.48%, which came after it hit a 52-week high of $184.07.
The Nasdaq was held back by declines in Amazon.com NASDAQ:AMZN), Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR). Starbucks, Costco, and Alphabet seemed knocked down by profit-taking after hitting new highs in the last week.
Lower interest rates helped utility and real estate stocks. Also rising were consumer staples, health care and telecommunications shares, including AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ). T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) was down after jumping a week ago as federal regulators approved its $26 billion merger with Sprint (NYSE:S).
The 10-Year Treasury yield fell to 2.06% from 2.081% on Friday.
Energy stocks were lower, especially oil-service stocks, even as oil prices moved higher. West Texas intermediate crude futures were up 67 cents to $56.87. Brent crude futures rose 25 cents to $63.71.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was off 3.7%. Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) slid 2%. Oil-and-gas producer Apache (NYSE:APA) dropped 2.5%.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) fell 1.39% after Standard & Poor's warned it would downgrade the stock because of the delays involved in getting the 737 Max airliner back into the year. Airlines have been warning the delays since the plane was grounded last winter are hurting current and expected results.
Boeing stock has fallen 23.7% from a peak of $446.01 this winter.
slid 2%
In addition to Apple's earnings, Tuesday's reports will include earnings from companies that can easily move markets, including: oil giants BP (NYSE:BP) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and two Dow components: pharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG).
Winners and Losers in the S&P 500
Generic drugmaker Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL), Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) and Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) were among the top S&P 500 stocks on the day.
Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR), National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE:NOV) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) were among the weakest stocks in the S&P 500 on Monday.