Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

NASDAQ SLIPS A LITTLE, S&P ENDS BARELY HIGHER

The Nasdaq composite .IXIC closed slightly lower on Monday and the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX managed a tiny gain while the Dow Jones Industrial average .DJI advanced 0.3% in a choppy, but lackluster start of the week for Wall Street.

While its advance was a barely perceptible, at 0.06%, the benchmark S&P index still managed to boast a milestone - its 5th straight day of gains for its longest winning streak since November, when it rose seven days in a row from November 18 - November 26.

And at their session peaks the S&P 500 and Nasdaq touched their highest levels since April 2 - so-called Liberation Day, when U.S. President Donald Trump kicked some of the market's most nail-biting volatile sessions in years by announcing steep import tariffs on trading partners.

Many investors may have stuck to the sidelines because Monday marked the start of a key earnings week with four of the so-called Magnificent Seven companies reporting: Amazon.com AMZN.O, Apple AAPL.O, Meta Platforms META.O and Microsoft MSFT.O.

The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF MAGS.K ended down 0.4%, roughly mid-way between its session high and its low.

One of the top 7 stocks, Nvidia NVDA.O lagged sharply, down 2%, after the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that China's Huawei Technologies was preparing to test an AI chip, which it hopes can replace some of Nvidia's higher-end products.

Nvidia's decline helped push the Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX down 0.4%.

Of the 11 major S&P 500 industry sectors, eight ended the day higher with defensive utilities .SPLRCU leading advancers, up 0.7%. The biggest loser was technology .SPLRCT, down 0.3%.

Here is your closing snapshot:

(Sinead Carew)

*****

FOR MONDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

AS STAGFLATION SIMMERS, BEWARE OF BOUNCES CLICK HERE

STUCK IN A RANGE UNTIL THINGS ARE CLEARER CLICK HERE

HOW HAS CORPORATE AMERICA ADAPTED TO MARKET SHOCKS (SO FAR)? CLICK HERE

WALL STREET STARTS THE WEEK WITH SOME LACKLUSTER CHOP CLICK HERE

BULLS BASK IN BREADTH THRUST CLICK HERE

JPM WILL BUY RISK IN H2, UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES CLICK HERE

CITIGROUP UPGRADES EUROPEAN AUTOS ON TARIFF MITIGATION HOPES CLICK HERE

RANGE BOUND TRADING LIKELY TO CONTINUE, SAYS MS CLICK HERE

STOXX GAINS AS M&A SWEETENS UNCERTAIN TRADE BACKDROP CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES UP AS DEALS AND EARNINGS SWEETEN THE MOOD CLICK HERE

MARKETS LONG FOR MORE SIGNAL, LESS NOISE ON TRADE CLICK HERE