The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished slightly lower on Monday, halting a string of gains at two sessions, amid the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19, profit-taking and a downgrade of China growth by Goldman Sachs also were blamed for denting bullish sentiment on Wall Street. The Dow
DJIA,
-0.30%
closed 107 points, or 0.3%, at 35,102, on a preliminary basis. The S&P 500 index
SPX,
-0.09%
finished less than 0.1% lower at around 4,432, while the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+0.16%
closed 0.2% higher at 14,860, ending within about 0.2% off its Aug. 5 record high at 14,895.12. In corporate news, shares of Moderna Inc.
MRNA,
+17.10%
rose 14%, in record territory, on Monday after the company said its COVID-19 vaccine was granted a provisional authorization in Australia for adults who are at least 18 years old. Stocks indexes mostly shrugged off data Monday morning that showed U.S. job openings rose to a record 10.1 million in June.