US stocks finish lower as Nasdaq lags

This July 15, 2013, file photo shows the New York Stock Exchange in New York. US stocks Monday finished somewhat lower after a quiet day of trade with the Nasdaq lagging the other two indices following last week’s surge. AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN

NEW YORK–US stocks Monday finished somewhat lower after a quiet day of trade with the Nasdaq lagging the other two indices following last week’s surge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 11.61 points (0.06 percent) to 18,116.04.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 3.68 (0.17 percent) at 2,104.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 15.44 (0.31 percent) at 5,010.97.

The Dow and S&P 500 were in positive territory most of the day until late-session selling, but the Nasdaq spent most of the day in the red after last Friday closing above 5,000 for only the fourth time in history.

Biotech was among the weakest sectors. Biogen lost 2.6 percent, Celgene fell 4.3 percent and Amgen shed 2.1 percent.

Dow member Pfizer gained 2.3 percent after announcing that it and Eli Lilly would resume phase 3 testing for the painkiller tanezumab after the US Food and Drug Administration lifted a partial hold on it. Eli Lilly advanced 0.3 percent.

Dow member McDonald’s rose 1.6 percent following reports that hedge fund Glenview Capital Management urged it to consider converting to a real-estate investment trust.

Monsanto fell 2.0 percent after the United Nations’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said that the company’s popular weedkiller Roundup is “probably” carcinogenic.

Tenet Healthcare jumped 4.9 percent as it announced a new joint venture with United Surgical Partners to provide ambulatory surgical and other services at short-stay facilities in the US.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.91 percent from 1.92 percent Friday, while the 30-year rose to 2.51 percent from 2.50 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.