U.S. stocks closed mixed Monday, as investors sorted through data in trying to determine the direction of the U.S. economy. In U.S. economic news, reports included better-than-expected numbers on the housing market and a worse-than-anticipated report on factory activity in the Chicago, Illinois, region. Also, the National Association of Realtors reported signed contracts to purchase existing homes surged 6.1 percent last month from April, the largest monthly gain since April 2010. In corporate news, shares of General Motors (GM) fell after the auto manufacturer said it was recalling another 7.6 million vehicles. American Apparel declined after the clothing retailer turned back a request by ousted Chief Executive Dov Charney for an investor meeting. Yahoo gained after Piper Jaffray upgraded the internet search engine to overweight from neutral. The dollar declined against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. Light sweet crude oil for August delivery dropped 37 cents to $105.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures gained $2.00 to $1,322.00 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 25.24, or 0.15 percent, to 16,826.60. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.73, or 0.04 percent, to 1,960.23. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 10.25, or 0.23 percent, to 4,408.18.
