Tech and materials stocks lift Wall Street

Wall Street nudged up on Monday after technology and material stocks helped the market outweigh an earlier slide driven by concern about an economic slowdown.

The Dow Jones industrial average declined one point, or 0.01%, to 10,302. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 0.13 points, or 0.01%, to 1,079.38. The Nasdaq composite index was up eight points, or 0.39%, to 2,182.

The S&P was pushed into negative territory by weak economic data from Japan and worse-than-expected manufacturing report from the New York region. The New York Federal Reserve said its manufacturing activity index rose to 7.10 this month from 5.08 in July – the index was forecast to rise to 8.00.

Gross domestic product in Japan expanded an annualised 0.4% in the second quarter, the country’s Cabinet Office said on Monday, far below the 2.3% estimated in a Bloomberg survey.

Meanwhile, data from the National Association of Home Builders showed homebuilder confidence declined from 14 to 13.

Cisco Systems Inc. led the gains in the Dow, rising 2.6%. Cliffs Natural Resources climbed 2.6%, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold rose 1.2% to $70.94 and AK Steel was up 1.2% to $13.22.

The biggest losers were education stocks, which plunged on concerns federal regulators would impose tighter controls on student loans.

Corinthian Colleges fell 22%, Strayer Education plummeted 18%, and Capella Education slumped 13%.

Lowe’s edged up 0.56% after forecasting an increase in same-store sales of about 2% for the fiscal year.

In Europe, shares ended flat on Monday after weaker banks offset stronger miners and retailers.

FTSEurofirst 300 declined 0.02% to close at 1,045 points. The Euro STOXX 50 fell 0.4% to 2,698 points.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 Average declined 0.6% to 9,197 after the government released lower-than-expected growth data for the second quarter.

On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite saw its biggest daily rise this month, closing up 2.1% to 2,662. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index increased a modest 0.2% to 21,112 with property stocks underperforming in reaction to city-wide measures to cool the housing market.