Wall Street hovers at records; energy losses counter Amazon strength

By Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes were little changed on Monday after retreating from record highs set during the session as gains for Amazon were countered by losses in shares of chipmakers and energy companies.

Investors also digested strong economic data, which showed sales of new U.S. single-family homes unexpectedly rose in October to hit a 10-year high amid robust demand across the country.

Prospects for corporate tax cuts have also occupied market watchers hoping such reforms would further fuel the record-setting run for equities.

President Donald Trump was to meet with Senate Republican tax writers to scope out an end-game strategy for sweeping tax legislation, ahead of a crucial vote on the Senate floor that could come as early as Thursday.

 

"You have got this continuous background of tax reform," said Peter Andersen, chief investment officer with Fiduciary Trust Company in Boston.

"But underlying that, if you just take your eyes off that for a moment and look at the other fundamentals of the economy and the world economy, things look very positive," Andersen said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 21.56 points, or 0.09 percent, to 23,579.55, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 0.71 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,601.71 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 10.59 points, or 0.15 percent, to 6,878.57.

Shares of online retailer Amazon rose 1.1 percent, giving the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Record online sales were seen on Black Friday and Thanksgiving last week, when shoppers bagged deep discounts and bought more on their mobile devices.

Amazon shares led the S&P 500 retailing index <.SPXRT> up 0.7 percent.

Energy <.SPNY> was the worst-performing major sector, falling 1.0 percent. Oil prices fell, with U.S. crude easing from two-year highs on prospects of higher supply and uncertainty about Russia's resolve to join in extending output cuts ahead of this week's OPEC meeting.

Shares of oil majors Chevron and Exxon fell 0.9 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Among chip stocks, Micron Technology declined 3.4 percent and Nvidia slipped 1.1 percent, with the Philadelphia semiconductor index <.SOX> off 1.0 percent.

The declines followed a 5 percent drop in shares of Samsung Electronics <005930.KS> in Asian trading after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock, citing concerns that a boom in memory chips is likely to peak soon.

Shares of hard drive maker Western Digital dropped 7.0 percent after a downgrade.

In merger news, Time rose 9.5 percent after media company Meredith said it would buy the magazine publisher. Meredith shares surged 11.0 percent.

Barracuda Networks shares jumped 16.5 percent after the data security company agreed to be bought by private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.38-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.35-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

(Additional eporting by Sruthi Shankar and Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Cynthia Osterman)