U.S. stocks bounced around in jumpy trading Monday, as major manufacturers including 3M lagged but technology companies Cisco and Intel jumped thanks to buzz generated by new deals activity. The benchmark large cap indexes closed mixed Monday, in the lightest trading session of the year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 share index eked out a gain of 0.13 point, or 0.01%, to 1079.38, snapping a four day losing streak. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 1.14 points, or 0.01%, to 10302.01, extending its run of losing sessions to five in a row.

The Dow is down 3.7% over the last five sessions. Manufacturing giant 3M was the measure's worst performer, falling 58 cents, or 0.7%, to 83.43 after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's survey of manufacturing in the New York area showed weaker than expected growth. Boeing also weakened, sliding 44 cents, or 0.7%, to 64.40.

Technology companies jumped Monday, boosted by excitement over computer giant Dell's acquisition of small-cap storage technology firm 3Par.

Leading the Dow, Cisco Systems rose 55 cents, or 2.6%, to 21.91. Intel gained 32 cents, or 1.7%, to 19.47. The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 8.39 points, or 0.39%, to 2181.87, its first gain in five sessions.

Market watchers will also be scrutinizing quarterly earnings reports Tuesday from retail giants Wal-Mart and Home Depot for clues about the strength of the consumer. Wal-Mart edged higher Monday, closing up 1 cent to 50.41. Home Depot advanced 7 cents, or 0.3%, to 27.38.

European market

European stocks finished flat Monday, while deal news boosted shares of miner Vedanta Resources and oil producer Cairn Energy. The Stoxx 600 Europe closed virtually unchanged at 255.61.

Data reported from Japan overnight showed that the country's second quarter gross domestic product rose much less than expected, pressuring some European banks. BNP Paribas lost 1.3%, while Banco Santander shares fell 0.8%, pressuring the Spanish Ibex 35 index, which slipped 0.3% to 10,246.2.

Of the major European benchmarks, the French CAC-40 index fared worst, losing 0.4% to 3,597.60, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended flat at 5,276.10 and the German DAX index also finished unchanged at 6,110.57.

Asian market

Asian markets ended mixed Monday as Japanese stocks declined on the nation's disappointing economic growth. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.6% to 9,196.67, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%, and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.2%.

Data released early Monday showed Japan's gross domestic product rose 0.4% in annualized terms in the second quarter.

The rate of expansion was much smaller than the revised 4.4% growth in the January-March quarter, and worse than the 2.3% growth expected by economists.

The result meant that China surpassed Japan as the world's second largest economy in the second quarter of 2010, putting China on track to top Japan for full year GDP.

The yen rose against the U.S. dollar, making Japanese goods more expensive to the rest of the world. Exporters dropped as a result, with Toshiba Corp. falling 1.0%, Sony Corp sliding 3.0% and Honda Motor shedding 0.9%.

Commodities and metals

Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were lifted by a weaker U.S. dollar to close higher Monday, with the recent dip in prices helping to attract buying interest.

The euro was trading 0.6% higher against the dollar at $1.2835 with a softer dollar making metals priced in the U.S. unit cheaper for holders of other currencies.

Analysts Monday were also reporting an increase in speculative interest and investor demand, as the metals continued to trade considerably lower than their early August highs.

Crude futures settled slightly lower Monday in a quiet trading session, amid mostly flat equities markets and a falling dollar that kept oil prices in a tight range.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled down 15 cents, or 0.2%, at $75.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude on the ICE futures settled down 0.26 cent at $74.85 a barrel. Gold prices closed higher, as lackluster economic data stoked concerns about the global economic outlook, spurring continued movement to the safe haven of gold.

The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, rose 9.6 cents, to settle at $1,226.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.