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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Techs jumped Monday, lifting the Nasdaq composite, but blue chips struggled, amid rising Treasury bond yields and record high oil prices.
Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures pointed to a flat open Tuesday, when fair value is taken into account.
The Nasdaq composite (up 10.12 to 2,195.38, Charts) gained around 0.5 percent, boosted largely by a rally in Internet and biotech shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average (down 17.76 to 10,623.15, Charts) lost 0.2 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 1.17 to 1,235.35, Charts) index ended just above unchanged.
Small-cap stocks, as measured by the Russell 2000 (up 3.05 to 682.80, Charts), gained around 0.5 percent.
Treasury prices slumped, pushing the yields higher. Oil prices jumped
The fact that the market managed gains, even amid the rise in oil prices, was impressive, noted Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management.
"The strength in the Nasdaq relates to tech stocks having been some of the best performers over the last few months," he added.
Looking forward, the focus Tuesday turns to the reports on personal income and spending, he said, as well as factory orders, and then the July jobs report on Friday.
A majority of the S&P 500 has already reported earnings, and results have been in large part, better-than-expected. That factor has given and continues to give the market support, Ghriskey said.
Earnings due Tuesday morning include Comcast, Qwest and Tyco.
Oil prices climbed amid refinery issues at BP and news of the death of the king of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.
U.S. light crude oil for September hit an all-time trading high of $62.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before pulling back a bit by the close. Crude ended the session at an all-time closing high of $61.57, a gain of $1.00.
Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners nine to seven on volume of 1.32 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, winners topped losers eight to seven on volume of 1.47 billion shares.
What's moving?
Online auctioneer eBay (up $1.83 to $43.61, Research) jumped 4.4 percent after Smith Barney upgraded the stock's investment rating to "buy" from "hold," saying the June quarter's strong trend is sustainable.
A number of Internet stocks gained as well, lifting the Goldman Sachs Internet (Charts) index by 1.5 percent.
The run up in oil prices was good news for oil stocks. The Philadelphia Oil Services Sector (Charts) index added 1.3 percent.
RadioShack (up $3.31 to $26.78, Research) jumped more than 14 percent after saying that it would now sell phones from Cingular Wireless, replacing long-time provider Verizon Wireless. RadioShack also said it was extending its pre-existing deal with Sprint PCS (down $0.02 to $26.88, Research).
Guidant (up $2.52 to $71.32, Research) shares jumped on news that it has received U.S. regulatory approval to relaunch its devices to treat heart failure, which were recalled in June due to malfunctions.
Johnson & Johnson (up $0.54 to $64.50, Research), which is in the process of acquiring the medical device maker, gained 0.8 percent.
Dow component Procter & Gamble reported earnings and revenue Monday morning that grew from a year earlier and beat estimates. The company also forecast current quarter and full-year earnings that are in line with current estimates.
However, investors took a "sell the news" response and P&G (down $0.31 to $55.32, Research) shares inched lower.
Dow component Home Depot (down $0.65 to $42.86, Research) lost 1.5 percent after the company said it was subpoenaed by the Justice Department for documents tied to how the company handled hazardous waste.
Also on the downside, Symbol Technologies (down $1.79 to $9.85, Research) slumped 15.4 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade after the company's chief executive announced his abrupt resignation and the company reported a quarterly loss.
In other news, both General Motors (up $0.04 to $36.86, Research) and Ford Motor (up $0.11 to $10.85, Research) said that they were cutting prices on a number of models for 2006 as a means of amping up sales.
Manufacturing on track
Manufacturing continued to expand in July, according to a report released shortly after the open.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 56.6 in July from 53.8 in June, trumping forecasts for a rise to 54.1.
But the June read on construction spending was less upbeat. Spending rose 0.3 percent in the month, versus forecasts for a jump of 0.7 percent. Spending fell a downwardly revised 1.7 percent in May.
Treasury prices slumped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.31 percent from 4.27 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and the yen.
COMEX gold rose $1.90 to settle at $437.70 an ounce.
New month, new advance
Monday is the first trading day of August, and the first trading day of the month is typically a good one as it brings new money into the market.
The advance certainly extends the recent run-up.
For the month of July, all three indexes posted solid gains: the Dow up 3.6 percent, the Nasdaq surging 6.3 percent and the S&P 500 advancing 3.6 percent.
"We've come off a phenomenal July," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Trust. "And we've seen a real reversal in the stocks that were leading the market, with economically-sensitive names doing well."
Whether the trend can continue in August will depend on the economic news and the perception of the Fed, he added.
"The real one-two for the market is going to be the jobs report Friday and then the Fed meeting next week," he added.
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