Stocks hold to tight range after Goldman concerns, Citigroup profit; Leading indicators jump

Stocks trade in tight range on mixed bank news

NEW YORK — The stock market traded in a tight range Monday following mixed news about banks and a drop in airline stocks.

Investors remained concerned about the fallout from civil fraud charges that regulators filed last week against Goldman Sachs, but on the plus side Citigroup’s earnings came in much better than expected.

Shares of airlines fell after most European airports remained closed for a fifth day following the spread of ash from a volcano in Iceland. Analysts estimated that airline losses topped $1 billion.

The Dow Jones industrials rose about 14 points in afternoon trading. Broader indexes also dropped. American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and United parent UAL Corp. each lost about 5 percent.

A jump in the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators gave some support to the market. The report signals that economic activity will strengthen in the next three to six months. The Conference Board’s leading indicators index rose to 1.4 percent for March. Economists had predicted growth of 0.9 percent.

“It’s just giving you more indication that the road to recovery is not as tenuous as you might have thought,” said Brett Hryb, portfolio manager with MFC Global Investment Management in Toronto, referring to the leading indicators report.

Asian markets fell in their first trading since the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil fraud charges Friday against Goldman Sachs. World markets are also being hurt by new measures in China to curb speculative real estate investing.

China said over the weekend it would take more steps to curb real estate prices, which have been rising sharply for months. The government is concerned about speculative bubbles in its fast-growing economy. China has already increased the minimum amount of money banks must hold to slow down lending.

Investors are concerned about potential repercussions tied to the charges against Goldman. The civil suit comes just as Congress is taking up a bill to overhaul regulation of the financial industry. The measures could extend to the types of risky securities at the center of the Goldman case.

“Is financial reform going to be a big setback for financial company earnings?” said Colleen Supran, a portfolio manager at Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough in San Francisco. “And what is that going to mean for overall earnings for, say, the S&P, which is what we really care about.”

In midafternoon trading, the Dow rose 13.61, or 0.1 percent, to 11,032.27. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.56, or 0.2 percent, to 1,189.57, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 17.57, or 0.7 percent, to 2,463.69.

Three stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 766.7 million shares compared with 1.2 billion shares traded at the same point Friday.

Bond prices slipped, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.79 percent from 3.77 percent compared with late Friday.

The dollar rose against other major currencies. Gold fell.

Crude oil fell $1.73 to $81.51 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Stocks dropped Friday after the SEC announced the charges against Goldman. The Dow ended with a loss of 125 points but was down as much as 170 points during trading. It closed above 11,000 last week for the first time in 18 months.

Goldman shares fell $1.45 to $159.25 after tumbling 12.8 percent Friday.

Citigroup, among the hardest hit by the credit crisis, followed JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., said its profit improved because of strong investment banking operations. Citi also said its losses from failed loans fell slightly from the previous quarter, but executives remain cautious about a recovery. Citi rose 17 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $4.73.

Other big companies will report this week. International Business Machines Corp. is expected to post results after the closing bell. Apple Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Goldman Sachs are slated to report earnings on Tuesday.

UAL fell $1.27, or 5.6 percent, to $21.56, while AMR Corp.’s American Airlines fell 42 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $8.37.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.35, or 1.2 percent, to 706.27.

Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.3 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.1 percent and Japan’s Nikkei stock average tumbled 1.7 percent.