Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 saw six-day streaks of modest gains halted on Monday, as both indices finished the day slightly down after setting respective record highs on Friday.
The Dow dipped 9.82 points, or 0.06%, to close the first day of the week at 16,937.26. The index finished Friday at 16,947.08 to top its previous record close from June 10, marking the index’s 11th record close of the year.
The S&P 500 tailed off 0.26 points, or 0.01%, to 1,962.61 on Monday after closing out last week with three straight record closes. The index ended Friday at a record 1,962.87 – its 22nd record closing already this year. Along with the high total of record closes, the S&P 500 has managed to avoid much in the way of volatility over the past month and a half. Monday marked the 46th straight day the index has closed up or down by less than 1%, its longest streak of the sort in nearly two decades.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq may be looking to start its own win-streak after closing up for the second straight day on Monday. The index gained 0.64 points to start the week up 0.01% to 4,368.68 after finishing Friday at its highest point in more than 14 years.
In all, the markets had steady growth last week. The Dow rose 1%, Nasdaq was up 1.3%, and the S&P 500 jumped 1.4%.
The markets got a bump last week after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said that interest rates aren’t expected to rise until next year, extending beyond the government’s planned wind-down of its stimulus program. But, investor optimism wasn’t likely to last forever, especially not with the turmoil in Iraq causing oil prices to rise in recent weeks. Oil prices hit nine-month highs last week, but fell back slightly on Monday, as prices for both Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate slipped roughly 0.6% each.