Stocks ended narrowly mixed Monday with weakness in the broad market offset by firmness in megacaps. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 0.5 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent, and Nasdaq rose 0.5 percent. US Treasury yields, the dollar and oil prices all rose.

Among megacaps, Amazon advanced on news it would furnish cloud services to Open AI, Nvidia gained on hopes that the US would liberalize chip sales to China, and Tesla had a good day despite reporting weak sales in Europe. Risk appetite more generally was hemmed in as Federal Reserve officials repeated the new mantra that the market should not assume another rate cut in December is a foregone conclusion. Earnings are in focus with Palantir reporting after the close.

Among sectors, big technology shares fared best along with airlines, hotels, chain stores, and oil servicers. Lagging were health & personal care, apparel, homebuilders, media, beverages and insurance.

Market Reflections track market reaction to the trading day's major events. Economic data, policymaker speeches, and company news are featured in this report as well as key indexes and financial instruments.

Understanding why markets respond as they do is fundamental for an investor. Market Reflections help explain how the day's events, news, and data impact the outlook for the economy and for market prices.