NEW YORK (AA) – The American stock market closed higher Monday with rising stocks of tech companies.
The Dow was up 118 points to close at 17,891 while the S&P 500 rose 16 points to 2,081. The Nasdaq added 42 points to end the day at 4,817 – halting a seven-day losing streak for that index.
After recording losses last week, stocks of major tech companies began heading in the opposite direction Monday.
Amazon jumped 3.7 percent, Netflix rose 3.4 percent and Microsoft gained 1.5 percent.
Apple stocks fell for the eight session in a row — its longest losing streak since July 1998. The tech giant posted losses in its quarterly earnings last week and for the first time a decline in its iPhone sales, year-over-year.
The value of the world’s second and third biggest oil field services companies moved in opposite directions after the pair called off a planned $34.6 billion merger.
Halliburton improved by about 2 percent while Baker Hughes declined by the same amount.
The companies called off the deal Sunday due to “remaining regulatory approvals and general industry conditions that severely damaged deal economics,” according to a joint statement.
Meanwhile, oil prices moved lower.
At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 2.3 percent to $44.64 per barrel and international benchmark Brent crude was around $45.88, a 3 percent decrease.
