U.S. Stocks End Flat after Four-Day Rally

U.S. stocks ended nearly flat on Monday after last week's four-day rally.

Major indexes were sent to their highest levels of the year Friday, as investors were encouraged by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's declaration Friday that the economy is on the verge of recovery.

Stocks continued to rise in early trading on Monday before financial shares led the market lower. Investors are worried that smaller banks could face significant hardships in the coming months as losses among commercial real estate loans pile up.

Investors will digest plenty of data on housing and the consumers this week to determine if Bernanke's upbeat prediction can be backed up by fundamentals. Economists expected that the U.S. Commerce Department may report this Wednesday that purchases of new U.S. houses rose 1.6 percent in July to 390,000, the highest level since November.

Energy and raw material stocks led the market higher, as copper rallied and oil traded near a 10-month high.

The Dow Jones edged up 3.32 to 9,509.28. Broader indexes dipped. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.57 to 1,025.56 and the Nasdaq fell 2.92 to 2,017.98.