The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that stocks wavered to a mixed close on Monday as U.S. Treasury yields backed down from 5 per cent and investors shifted their focus to this week's high-profile earnings and closely watched economic data. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that the S&P 500 index ended modestly lower, while a host of interest-rate-sensitive momentum stocks buoyed the tech-laden Nasdaq to a higher close. Both the Dow and the S&P/TSX Composite Index notched their fourth straight daily drop. The run-up in yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note has been driven by investors pricing in stronger U.S. growth. Yields in longer-term bonds rose quickly after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the U.S. economy's strength and hot labour market might warrant tighter financial conditions. The 10-year yield was briefly bid at a 16-year high of 5.001 per cent on Thursday, breaking 5 per cent again on Monday morning before slipping to 4.83 per cent. Yields have been tempered by the threat of an expanding conflict in the Middle East. The S&P/TSX composite ended down 68.90 points at 19,046.74, as a drop in commodity prices led to a sell-off in resource shares.