Berkshire Hathaway Drops After Reporting Loss

Stocks drifted to a mixed close Monday as Wall Street's wild recent moves calmed a bit.

• The S&P 500 rose 7.64 points, or 0.2%, to 4,365.98 in its first trading after careening from months of sharp losses to its best week of the year .
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34.54 points, or 0.1%, to 34,095.86.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 40.50 points, or 0.3%, to 13,518.78.

More stocks fell than rose. The flashpoint for the stock market's movements in both directions has been what the bond market is doing, and it regressed a bit Monday following its own extreme moves. Crude prices rose after Russia and Saudi Arabia said they'd keep production cuts in place.

This upcoming week looks to have fewer big events on the calendar that could shake financial markets, the AP reports. It's a slower week for corporate profit reports, with roughly 50 companies in the S&P 500 set to say how much they earned during the summer. That's down from about 150 a week before. Constellation Energy rose 6.5% after it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Berkshire Hathaway fell 1.4% after it reported its results for the latest quarter over the weekend. It reported a loss, but that was mostly because of drops in the value of some of its investments on paper. Looking only at operating profit, Warren Buffett's company beat analysts' expectations.

More companies than usual in the S&P 500 have been beating Wall Street's profit forecasts this reporting season. "Don't worry," strategists at Bank of America led by Savita Subramanian wrote in a BofA Global Research report. "Earnings were fine." Trading of WeWork's stock was halted amid speculation about its financial health. It's plunged 98.5% this year to less than $1.

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The events with perhaps the most potential to shake markets this upcoming week are speeches scheduled for officials from the Federal Reserve. Last week, the Fed held its main interest rate steady for a second straight time, leaving it at its highest level since 2001. Perhaps more importantly for markets, Fed Chair Jerome Powell also hinted that a swift rise in Treasury yields since the summer—and the tumult that created in financial markets—could act as substitutes for further hikes to rates if they remain "persistent." That's because they could be slowing the economy and putting downward pressure on the economy by themselves. A report from the Fed Monday said that significant numbers of loan officers at banks reported tightening their standards to lend money (More stock market stories.)