Technology, commodity shares gain; Dow ends flat

NEW YORK — Investors are finding more than one way to bet on an improving economy.

Stocks ended a quiet day mostly higher Tuesday as traders bought commodities and technology stocks.

The rise in commodities reflects hopes that economic activity will improve and boost the appetite for basic materials. A falling dollar also helped push commodity prices higher, and oil settled above $70 a barrel for the first time this year.

Technology stocks rose as an improved profit forecast from chip maker Texas Instruments Inc. raised hopes that demand could also increase for electronics. Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. have also issued optimistic comments recently, bolstering the case for technology shares.

Analysts said the third consecutive day of modest moves in the market was a welcome sign after a 39.3 percent surge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index from 12-year lows three months ago.

Even if those gains continue to hold up, many market watchers doubt that the market will continue to march ahead with anything like the conviction it showed this spring.

“The next three months are just going to be a long, hot flat summer. I don’t see a catalyst,” said Scott Armiger, portfolio manager at Christiana Bank & Trust in Greenville, Del.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.43, or less than 0.1 percent, to 8,763.06. The broader S&P 500 index rose 3.29, or 0.4 percent, to 942.43, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 17.73, or 1 percent, to 1,860.13.

Robust demand at a government auction of three-year notes reassured investors who have worried in recent weeks that rising interest rates would choke off a recovery by making it more expensive for consumers to get loans.

Another test of investor appetite for debt comes Wednesday with an auction of $19 billion in 10-year notes.

The price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose slightly, pushing its yield down to 3.86 percent from 3.89 percent Monday.

Financial shares were mixed after the Treasury Department said it would allow 10 large banks repay $68 billion in federal bailout money. Those companies are among the 19 given money from a rescue fund created last October at the height of the financial crisis.

“It’s part of the healing process,” said Rob Lutts, chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management.

Among banks repaying loans, American Express Co. rose $1.28, or 5 percent, to $26.93, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. slipped 13 cents to $35.26.

Texas Instruments rose $1.25, or 6.3 percent, to $21.02.

U.S. Steel Corp. rose $2.76, or 7.9 percent, to $37.82. Schlumberger Ltd., which works in oil fields, rose $1.52, or 2.7 percent, to $58.85.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.14, or 0.6 percent, to 527.93.

About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume slipped to 4.3 billion shares from 4.4 billion Monday.