NEW YORK?US stocks closed mixed Monday in the absence of incentives to spur the market higher after a hefty three percent gain last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.68 points (0.13 percent) to end at 10,552.52.
The Nasdaq composite rose 5.86 points (0.25 percent) to 2,332.21 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 0.19 points (0.02 percent) to 1,138.50.
"The bulls are lacking enough catalysts to extend last week?s solid advance," analysts at Charles Schwab & Co. said in a client note, noting the absence Monday of any major economic reports or market-moving equity news.
The largely flat market came after a strong Wall Street rally Friday as investors welcomed better-than-expected government employment data for February, despite severe winter weather that crippled parts of the East Coast.
The blue-chip Dow ended last week topping the 10,500-point threshold for the first time since January 20 while technology-rich Nasdaq composite hit its highest level since September 2008.
"While the overall tone is constructive, the markets are digesting gains after being up three of the last four weeks," said Briefing.com's Patrick O'Hare.
Wells Fargo Advisors chief market strategist Al Goldman said after having erased the big losses chalked up this year, the market wanted to see more evidence that the "excesses" had been removed to set the pace for a rally.
"The main positive fact is that the market has acted well during the recovery."
Insurance giant AIG was among the gainers, rising 3.63 percent to $29.10 following an announcement that life insurance company MetLife will acquire an AIG unit in a $15.5-billion deal.
The deal will help AIG pay back part of its massive government bailout.
MetLife's takeover of American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) will involve $6.8 billion in cash plus some $8.7 billion in MetLife stock, the firms said.
MetLife climbed 5.09 percent to $40.90.
Hewlett-Packard fell 0.58 percent to $51.73 after the world's largest personal-computer maker revised downward its first-quarter financial results.
McDonald's rose 2.28 percent to $65.12 after reporting a better-than-expected rise in February sales.
Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of BlackBerry phones, jumped 5.60 percent to $73.39 following an analyst upgrade on the stock.
The bond market dipped. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 3.708 percent from 3.682 percent Friday and that on the 30-year bond climbed to 4.672 percent from 4.639 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
