NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Tech stocks gained near midday Monday, recovering after last week's selloff, but the broader market struggled amid a sluggish housing market report, selling in commodity stocks and a setback for big tobacco companies.

The Nasdaq composite (up 5.10 to 2,224.03, Charts) added 0.2 percent about 2-1/2 hours into the session. The tech-fueled index had been on both sides of unchanged all morning.

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The Dow Jones industrial average (down 10.17 to 11,497.93, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 0.18 to 1,314.96, Charts) index both hovered near unchanged.

Stocks slipped on Thursday and Friday of last week, with investors bailing out after an earlier rally, amid worries about the speed of the economic slowdown.

After that pullback, stocks were volatile Monday, fluctuating on both sides of unchanged through the morning.

"The market is trading hesitantly, with some upside bias," said Barry Hyman, equity strategist at EKN Financial Services. "Money coming out of oil stocks is going into tech and that's preventing the market from being lower."

However, stocks are likely to be rangebound as investors wait for key reports due later in the week that could give a better sense of whether the economy is headed for a so-called "soft landing." Notable reports include Friday's personal income and spending readings and the reports' inflation component, the PCE deflator.

"I think this is going to be a very important week for the market in determining whether we hold this uptrend we've seen since July," said Hyman.

Existing home sales fell in August, according to a report released Monday morning, in the latest sign that the housing market is still cooling. The decline for the month was not as steep as economists had predicted, but nonetheless showed continued erosion in the market.

U.S. light crude oil for November delivery fell 25 cents to $60.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, crude fell to $59.65, its lowest level in more than six months.

That sent oil stocks lower, including Exxon Mobil (down $0.75 to $64.16, Charts) and Valero Energy (down $0.79 to $47.40, Charts). The Amex Oil (down 12.87 to 1,026.54, Charts) index fell 1.7 percent.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell $5.70 to $589.70 an ounce.

Gold stocks tumbled in tandem, with the Amex Gold Bugs (down $8.06 to $286.53, Charts) index losing 2.9 percent.

But countering that was strength in select technology shares. Intel (up $0.22 to $19.29, Charts), Applied Materials (up $0.39 to $17.23, Charts) and Juniper Networks (up $0.37 to $16.54, Charts) all gained.

In other news, a federal judge on Monday said a potential $200 billion lawsuit against tobacco companies can proceed under class-action status. Philip Morris parent Altria (down $3.45 to $78.87, Charts), a Dow component, and rival Reynolds American (down $1.53 to $60.49, Charts) both sank.

Hewlett-Packard said late Friday that Chairman Patricia Dunn resigned effective immediately amid her role in the company's boardroom leak investigation scandal.

Dunn, who initially had said she would step down in January, will be replaced by chief executive Mark Hurd. Dunn is also leaving HP's board. HP (up $0.31 to $35.42, Charts) shares were modestly higher Monday morning.

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners edged losers by a narrow margin on volume of 690 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers and decliners were roughly even on volume of 760 million shares.

Treasury prices rose for a third session Monday, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.55 percent from 4.59 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and was little changed versus the yen.

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