Stocks mixed, Nasdaq flirts with 4,000 milestone

The stock market paused Monday, ending on a mixed note, after a string of recent records.

Investors had little company-specific news to digest, although the United States and other world powers reached a deal to limit Iran's nuclear program, an event that pushed down oil prices and energy stocks.

The slow day represented a pause in the market's strong run-up, capped by another milestone on Friday, when the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed above 1,800 for the first time.

Stocks have soared this year as a solid corporate earnings, a strengthening economy and easy-money policies from the Federal Reserve have drawn investors. Stocks also have gained because they offer an attractive option to bonds, where interest rates remain near all-time lows.

Despite light trade, Monday did feature another milestone. The Nasdaq rose as high as 4,007.09, a level it hasn't seen since Sept. 7, 2000, during the dot-com bubble. The index ended up 0.07 percent at 3,994.57. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.77 points to 16,072.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.13 percent to 1,802.48.

Even with Monday's decline, the S&P 500 has risen for seven straight weeks and is up 26 percent in 2013, its best performance in 15 years. -- AP