U.S. equities closed mostly higher in choppy trade Monday, shaking off comments from President Donald Trump said about breaking up the big banks.
The Dow Jones industrial average traded 42.12 points lower after Trump made the remarks. The 30-stock index briefly erased those losses but closed about 25 points lower.
Trump said he is "looking at that right now," in an interview with Bloomberg News.
"Talking about breaking up the big banks is not necessarily conducive to deregulation," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. One of these things is not like the other."
Dow intraday chart
Source: FactSet
The S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent, with financials, information technology and real estate leading advancers. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLF) traded about 0.7 percent higher.
The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) fell sharply before rising 0.7 percent.
KBE intraday
Source: FactSet
"I think we're stuck between risk on and risk off," said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. "Investors aren't quite ready to go to the dark side of risk-off selling. They may not want to miss out on more potential earnings gains."
Several individual bank stocks, including Bank of America and Citgroup, whipsawed following Trump's remarks.
Bank stocks have been some of the best performers since Trump was elected in November. Investors piled into the group betting the Trump administration would loosen up certain regulations, including Dodd-Frank.
Bank of America and Citigroup
Source: FactSet
The Nasdaq hit record intraday and closing highs, rising 0.7 percent.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded near 10.1 after hitting its lowest level since 2007.
Investors also parsed through several economic data releases. The ISM manufacturing index slipped to 54.8 in April from 57.2 and came in below consensus. Also, construction spending in March from a record high.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending remained flat in March, while personal income rose less than expected.
Several key economic data will also be released this week, including monthly U.S. jobs report. The Federal Reserve's policymaking committee is also slated to meet this week, but they are largely expected to hold rates steady.
Market expectations for a rate hike on Wednesday are just 4.8 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
"It's a busy week for macro news," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial. "This week boils down to our reaction to the Fed and economic data."
Meanwhile, lawmakers reached a deal Sunday to keep the government funded for the next five months, aides to senior members of Congress told NBC News.
The full House and Senate must still approve the bipartisan pact, which would be the first major legislation to clear Congress since Trump became president on Jan. 20.
Prompt passage of the legislation is expected this week.
"It's one less thing the market has to worry about," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. "Typically, we see some weakness in anticipation of a shutdown but what we've [also] seen with previous governments is that the market tends to bounce back quickly from them."
"The set-up is for the market to keep performing well with solid corporate and market fundamentals," he said.
Earnings season also continues this week, with Apple, Facebook, Tesla and BP all reporting.
This earnings season has been strong thus far, with more than 75 percent of companies beating profit estimates and about 70 percent topping sales forecasts as of Friday morning, according to data from The Earnings Scout.
John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet, said in a Friday note that the number of companies topping profit and sales estimates in the first quarter was above the five-year average.
Major U.S. Indexes
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27.05 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 20,913.46, with Boeing leading decliners and Apple the top advancer.
The advanced 4.13 points, or 0.17 percent, to end at 2,388.33, with information technology leading five sectors higher and telecommunications lagging.
The Nasdaq gained 44 points, or 0.73 percent, to 6,091.60.
About four stocks advanced for every three decliners at the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 753.89 million and a composite volume of 3.193 billion at the close.
—CNBC's Jeff Cox and Reuters contributed to this report.
On tap this week:
Tuesday
Earnings: Apple, Aetna, Archer-Daniels Midland, Merck, Pfizer, CVS Health, BP, MasterCard, Altria, ConocoPhillips, WebMD, Weight Watchers, FireEye , Devon Energy, Etsy, Gilead Sciences, Newfield Exploration, Anadarko Petroleum, Cummins, Coach, Mosaic, Allstate, Becton Dickinson, Eaton, Lumber Liquidators
April vehicle sales
Two-day Fed meeting begins
Wednesday
Earnings: Facebook, Time Warner, Volkswagen, AIG, Kraft Heinz, MetLife, Tesla Motors, Avis Budget, Tableau Software, Pioneer Natural Resources, Yamana Gold, Estee Lauder, Southern Co, Garmin, Sprint, Wellcare Health, Molson Coors Brewing, Humana, Cheesecake Factory, Fitbit, MetLife, Groupon
8:15 a.m. ADP payrolls
9:45 a.m. Services PMI
10:00 a.m. ISM non-manufacturing
2:00 p.m. Fed decision
Thursday
Earnings: A-B InBev, Occidental Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, Adidas, Kellogg, Viacom, Beazer Homes, AMC Networks, Siemens, Dunkin Brands, Chesapeake Energy, Marathon Oil, Allscripts Healthcare, El Pollo Loco, Shake Shack, PerkinElmer, Zynga, Zillow, Wageworks, DeVry Education, CBS, Activision Blizzard, Herbalife
8:30 a.m. Jobless claims
8:30 a.m. Trade deficit
8:30 a.m. Productivity
8:30 a.m. Unit labor costs
10:00 a.m. Factory orders
Friday
Earnings: TransCanada, Cognizant Tech, Moody's, Cigna, CenterPoint
8:30 a.m. Nonfarm payrolls
3:00 p.m. Consumer credit
11:30 Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer at Hoover Institution Monetary Policy Conference
12:45 a.m. San Francisco Fed President John Williams
1:30 p.m. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on panel at Hoover Institution
1:30 p.m. Fed Chair Janet Yellen in webcast from Brown University at event on 125 Years of Women at Brown