Stocks were little changed in midday trading Monday as investors closed out their positions for what has been a historic year on Wall Street.
Traders had little corporate or economic news to work through. The bond market was quiet as well. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note continued to hover near 3 percent.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was up seven points, or 0.04 percent, to 16,484 as of 11:50 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell one point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,840 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite fell four points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,152.
TWITTER TUMBLE: Twitter was among the biggest decliners in early trading. Twitter lost $3.36, or 5 percent, to $60.40. Wall Street analysts said Friday that the stock, which is still up 47 percent this month alone, had risen too far, too fast. Twitter slumped 13 percent on Friday.
OTHER TECH STOCKS LAG: Facebook lost $1.42, or 3 percent, to $54.02 and Netflix fell $6.50, or 2 percent, to $361. Both were among the year’s biggest gainers. Facebook rose more than 100 percent in 2013 and Netflix nearly 300 percent.
ALL QUIET: “It’s pretty quiet out there, and we’ve already done our preparation for 2014, so I doubt we’ll see the market move much here,” said Ron Florance, deputy chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.
HOLDING PATTERN: Stocks are likely to be in a holding pattern until next week, once all the mid-week holiday disruptions are over, Florance said. Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market will be closed Wednesday for New Year’s Day. The first big piece of news investors will have to work through will be the December jobs report, which will be released Jan. 10.
CROCS TREAD HIGHER: Crocs rose $2.30, or 17 percent, to $15.63 after the company announced it was getting a $200 million investment from private equity firm Blackstone and its CEO was retiring.
JAPAN CLOSES OUT HISTORIC YEAR: Japan’s Nikkei stock index closed higher for a ninth straight day Monday. The index ended 2013 up 57 percent, its best year in decades.
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