us stocks finished mostly higher monday and oil prices fell after data showed a slowdown in china’s economy the sp 500 reached its 49th record close of the year by gaining 1171 points or 03 to 447971 after being in the negative territory most of the day the largest comeback since late march according to dow jones market data the dow jones industrial average rose 11002 points or 03 to 356254 to end the trading day at its 35th record close of 2021 the bluechip index also finished last week at a high today’s close marks five consecutive trading sessions of new highs for both benchmarks the techheavy nasdaq lost 2914 points or 02 to 1479376 stocks have ground higher in thin summer trading buoyed by a bumper set of quarterly earnings reports from american companies however investors remain wary of the damping effect of the delta variant of covid19 on business activity and potential pitfalls including geopolitical uncertainty and a possible end to the federal reserve’s assetpurchase program by mid2022