Stocks Slightly Higher at Open

U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses on Monday morning as Wall Street tried to shake off a brutal month that saw the NASDAQ Composite suffer its worst stretch since 2008.

The Dow Jones Industrials eked higher 11.31 points to 32,988.52.

The S&P 500 obtained 2.66 points to 4,134.59,

The NASDAQ Composite poked ahead 3.61 points to 12,338.25.

The Dow and S&P 500 are coming off their worst month since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold. The Dow finished April 4.9% lower, while the S&P tanked 8.8%. The NASDAQ closed down 13.26% for its worst month since 2008.

Tech was a particular weak point in April, and some of the biggest names were struggling again on Monday. Shares of Amazon fell 2.7%, while Apple also slipped into the red.

Netflix, however, jumped 3.5%. Fellow streaming stock Disney rose more than 1%.

Payments stocks Visa and American Express each fell about 1%, respectively, weighing on the Dow.

In corporate news, Spirit Airlines announced that it was rejecting a takeover offer from JetBlue in favor of a less lucrative deal with Frontier, citing “an unacceptable level of closing risk.” Shares of Spirit dropped more than 7%.

Earnings season is now more than halfway finished, but a number of companies are set to post results in the coming week, including a host of consumer-focused restaurant and travel companies.

Expedia, MGM Resorts, Pfizer, Airbnb, Starbucks, Lyft, Marriott, Yum Brands, Uber eBay and TripAdvisor are just some of the names on deck.

Of the more than 280 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 80% have beat earnings estimates with 73% topping revenue expectations.

Treasury prices shuttled lower, raising yields to -2.98% from Friday’s 2.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices let go of $3.62 to $101.07 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices tailed off $51.50 to $1,860.20 U.S. an ounce.