Stocks mixed ahead of Alcoa earnings

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks indexes were mixed Monday ahead of the latest round of corporate earnings reports. Alcoa Inc. will release its results after the market closes.

The week started with news of two big corporate deals. DuPont, a major chemical company, said it would buy a Danish food maker for $5.8 billion. Duke Energy Corp. said it would buy Progress Energy Inc. in a $13 billion deal that will create one of the nation’s largest utilities. Duke fell 1.5 percent to $17.52.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,638 in afternoon trading.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 2, or 0.2 percent, to 1,270. The Nasdaq composite gained 1, or 0.1 percent, to 2,705.

Losses were spread across the market. Industrial, materials and information technology companies were the only members of the 10 industry groups that make up the S&P index to rise. 3M Co. led the 30 stocks that make up the Dow with a 1 percent gain. DuPont had the largest fall, giving up 2.7 percent to $48.41.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq index posted small gains thanks in part to the shares of Apple Inc., which gained 1.7 percent, and Netflix Inc., which jumped 3.3 percent. Playboy Enterprises Inc. soared 17 percent after agreeing to be taken private by a group of investors led by the company’s founder, Hugh Hefner.