US stock market indexes tread water in light trading

U.S. stock market indexes treaded water Monday, ending up or down a fraction in quiet trading. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 46.23 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 15,612.13. The technology-dominated Nasdaq was up 3.36 points, or 0.09 percent, at 3,692.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 2.53 points, or 0.15 percent, at 1707.14. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was a light 2.73 billion shares traded, compared with a recent average 3.4 billion. Declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,812 to 1,259. The 10-year Treasury note Monday fell 11/32 to yield 2.643 percent. On Foreign markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index fell 208.12, or 1.44 percent, to close at 14,258.04 as a stronger yen put pressure on Japanese shares. China's Shanghai Composite rose 1 percent ahead of the country's economic update for July at the end of the week. Britain's FTSE 100 index lost 28.29, or 0.43 percent, at 6,619.58. Oil fell slightly, with benchmark crude for September delivery dropping 38 cents to close at $106.56 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices dropped as much as $1.24 in intraday trading. Brent crude, traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London, slipped 25 cents to $108.70 a barrel. Gold futures slid 0.6 percent to settle at $1,302.60 a troy ounce on the Commodity Exchange. Gold traded as high as $1,320.30 and as low as $1,296.70. Gold bullion closed in London at $1,304. Silver futures dipped 1 percent $19.76 an ounce. Monday's high for silver was $20.03, while the low was $19.57. The U.S. dollar fell 0.7 percent to 98.30 yen after sliding 0.6 percent Friday, while rising 0.1 percent to $1.3258 a euro. On the Chicago Board of Trade, September corn futures slid to near three-year lows, ending down 6.75 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $4.69 a bushel. Wheat closed down 3.5 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $645.25. Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.