NEW YORK, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street traded mixed on Monday as investors were cautious before the first-quarter earnings season and a series of uncertainties still lingered in the markets.
The three major indexes wavered between gains and losses for the whole trading session on Monday as the first-quarter earnings reports were around the corner and the high oil price, disasters in Japan and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and North Africa still remained big threats to the markets.
Investors expected good first-quarter performance from listed companies, with Alcoa to kick off this earnings season by releasing its first-quarter results after Monday's closing bell.
The shares of the aluminum giant went higher earlier in the day, but headed south after lunch time. Alcoa dropped nearly 1 percent in Monday's trading.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday the U.S. economy will expand at a slower pace of 2.8 percent this year, down 0.2 percent from its previous estimate in January.
The Washington-based agency also cut Japan's growth projection to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent, as the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month.
U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional leaders successfully averted a government shutdown late Friday, lifting investors' confidence in the U.S. economy. However, another strong earthquake hit Japan on Monday morning, which still constituted unstable factors to the stock markets.
Meanwhile, NYSE Euronext said on Sunday that its board has decided to turn down the 11.3-billion-dollar takeover offer by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange, claiming that it would stick with its previous agreement to be purchased by German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse for 10 billion dollars.
Some analysts worried that it would raise antitrust concerns if Deutsche Boerse and NYSE created one big stock exchange.
U.S. crude oil dropped from a 30-month high on Monday and the U. S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Monday.
Moreover, China announced a quarterly trade deficit of 1.02 billion dollars, the first time in seven years.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.06 points, or 0.01 percent, to 12,381.11. The Standard Poor's 500 shed 3.71 points, or 0.28 percent, to 1,324.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 8.91 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,771.51.