Trump Stock Market: Rally Falters With Investors Waiting On Specifics

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average pared early gains and were little changed on Monday as investors looked for more clarity on President-elect Donald Trump's policies.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was lower, adding to last week's losses.

The Dow, which capped off its best week in five years on Friday, hit another record-high just after the start of trading.

Since Trump's triumph last Tuesday, investors have been betting on his campaign promises to simplify regulation in the health and financial sectors and boost spending on infrastructure.

However, analysts said investors want specific details regarding Trump's policies and are also awaiting key appointments in his administration.

"In any election cycle, many candidates make a lot of election promises and obviously they can't deliver for a variety of reasons on all these promises," said Mohannad Aama, managing director at Beam Capital Management in New York.

"Right now during this transition period, there is a lot of pricing in the unknown."

The financial index rose 1.8 percent, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan providing the biggest boost. The index has risen over 8 percent in the last three sessions.

The risk of faster domestic inflation and wider budget deficits if Trump goes on a spending binge sent yields on U.S. Treasury and other benchmark global bonds higher. The dollar index surged to an 11-month high.

Yields on the U.S. 10-year Treasury notes climbed to their highest since January on Monday at 2.30 percent, while 30-year paper shot above 3 percent.

At 11:10 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was up 4.73 points, or 0.03 percent, at 18,852.39, the S&P 500 was down 4.31 points, or 0.2 percent, at 2,160.14 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 33.28 points, or 0.64 percent, at 5,203.84.

Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the technology index's 2.17 percent fall leading the decliners.

Apple's 3.9 percent fall weighed the most on all the three indexes.

A host of U.S. Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to make appearances on Monday, including Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker and San Francisco Fed President John Williams.

The central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates at its December meeting, with traders pricing in an 81 percent chance, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Friday economic growth prospects appear strong enough for a gradual hike in interest rates.

Oil prices were at around three-month lows as the prospect of another year of oversupply and weak prices overshadowed chances that OPEC would reach a deal to cut output. [O/R]

Harman International rose 25.2 percent to $109.80 after Samsung Electronics announced an $8 billion deal to buy the company.

Mentor Graphics surged more than 19 percent to a record high of $36.55 after Siemens agreed to buy the company in a $4.5 billion deal.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,498 to 1,459. On the Nasdaq, 1,645 issues rose and 1,069 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 77 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 377 new highs and 19 new lows.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)