US Indexes Hold Near Record Highs

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. indexes held near record highs early Monday after big gains for energy stocks offset losses in other areas of the market. Oil prices soared after more nations agreed to production cuts in an attempt to mitigate a global oversupply of crude.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index was little changed at 2,259. The Dow Jones industrial average added 42 points, or 0.2 percent, to 19,801. The Nasdaq composite fell 18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,425. All three closed at record highs on Friday. More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

OIL'S WELL: Crude jumped to its highest price since the summer of 2015 after OPEC persuaded 11 other oil-producing nations to cut production. The agreement is intended to further raise the price of oil after a two-year slump that has hurt the government finances of Russia, Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers.

The price of U.S. benchmark crude jumped $2.17, or 4.2 percent, to $53.67 a barrel in New York. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose $2.33, or 4.3 percent, to $56.66

That helped to drive stocks higher across the oil-producing industry. National Oilwell Varco jumped 7.7 percent to $42.83, Transocean rose 5.2 percent to $16.23 and Marathon Oil added 4.7 percent to $19.11

Energy stocks in the S&P 500 rose 2.1 percent, by far the largest gain of the 11 sectors that make up the index. It was more than double the gain of telecom stocks, which had the second-biggest move for the day.

YIELDS CLIMB: Expectations of higher inflation in the economy, as well as stronger economic growth, have driven bond yields higher since Donald Trump's surprise victory last month in the U.S. presidential election. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.50 percent from 2.47 percent late Friday. That's its highest level since September 2014.

FED WATCH: Economists and investors are widely expecting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at its two-day policy meeting this week, which ends Wednesday. It would be the first increase since a year ago and just the second since 2006. The central bank has held interest rates at close to zero since the Great Recession in hopes of driving economic growth, though the low rates have also squeezed savers looking for income from bank accounts and bonds.

AROUND THE WORLD: In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.6 percent to 6,911, and Germany's DAX shed 0.2 percent to 11,180. France's CAC 40 was virtually flat.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.8 percent to 19,155, South Korea's Kospi index inched up by 0.1 percent to 2,027 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.4 percent to 22,433.

CURRENCIES: The dollar dipped modestly against several other currencies, including the euro, British pound and Canadian dollar. It edged up to 115.47 Japanese yen from 115.23 yen.

(KA)