Large-Cap Stocks Mostly Lower on Monday, Tech Stocks Gain

Boeing and other industrial companies fell Monday, giving back some of the ground they won late last week.

It had also risen against the euro (+0.2pc), but was steady against the British pound and Japanese yen. Economists had expected a gain of 200,000 jobs. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.2% after closing at a record on Friday.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 96 points to 25,456.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 9.45 points to 2,798.00.

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,601.06 for a gain of 3.91 points or 0.24%.

Stocks ended up split on Wall Street as gains for technology companies were offset by losses elsewhere. Wall Street anxious that that might be the start of faster inflation.

Investor sentiment remained upbeat at the start of the week after Friday's employment report showed stronger-than-expected United States job growth in February.

ALL EYES ON TECH: Optical communications company Oclaro surged after it agreed to be bought by optical networking company Lumentum Holdings.

Shares of Micron Technology (MU.O) rose 8.8 percent to $59.37 after analysts at Nomura raised their target for the stock to $100. Lumentum's shares rose 3.8 per cent.

Late Friday the Wall Street Journal reported that Intel might try to buy rival Broadcom. It could also attempt a smaller deal.

Shares of Broadcom Ltd. rose 3.6% after the Singapore-based semiconductor company said it expects to complete its relocation to the United States by 3 April.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the two major exchanges, by a 1.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.40-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. Boeing gave up 2.9 percent and heavy equipment maker Caterpillar lost 2.4 percent. Blankfein is reportedly set to step down later this year.

Goldman's stock gained $1.83 to $272.60.

Broadcom gained 3.6 percent while shares in Qualcomm were flat. Liveris will be succeeded by co-director Jeff Fettig.

DowDuPont ultimately plans to break up into three companies.

Johnson Controls was up 1.6 percent after saying it would consider selling a business that makes batteries for vehicles.

General Electric rose 2.2 per cent and was the biggest boost to the Dow. Brent crude, used to price global oils, added 6 cents to $65.55 per barrel in London.

BONDS: Bond prices edged higher.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.88 percent.

CURRENCY: The dollar weakened to 106.58 yen from Friday's 106.81 yen.

In early trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.8 percent to 12,446.46 and France's CAC 40 added 0.4 percent to 5,297.83. Japan's benchmark index Nikkei 225 slipped 0.22%.

Shanghai China Composite Index was up 0.58%.