US stocks mixed in early trade; CAT gains on outlook

US stocks turned mixed in early trade Monday after last week's gains sent indexes to five-year highs, with Caterpillar heading higher despite its mixed fourth-quarter earnings report.

At 1100 am (1600 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9.92 points (0.07 percent) to 13,886.06.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 2.51 (0.17 percent) to 1,500.45, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 5.93 (0.19 percent) to 3,155.64.

Caterpillar shares added 1.2 percent despite a 55 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings, hit by an expected $580 million writedown on a China acquisition that the company now says was tainted by fraud, and revenue impacted by the global economic slowdown.

The heavy equipment manufacturer was nevertheless cautiously optimistic about 2013, saying it expected a slow first half but better markets in the second half.

Energy company Hess surged 5.3 percent after it announced it was selling refining and terminal operations in the United States and placing more focus on exploration and production.

Industrial coatings maker PPG lost 4.1 percent after the closing of the share-exchange period related to the merger of its commodity chemicals business with Georgia Gulf Corp, to become the PPG spinoff Axiall. Georgia Gulf shares gained 6.5 percent.

Apple shares, which fell heavily last week on its earnings disappointment, rebounded 2.8 percent, while Facebook gained 2.7 percent helped by an upgrade from Raymond James analysts to outperform.

Bond prices continued to sink. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.99 percent from 1.95 percent late Friday, while the 30-year yield increased to 3.16 percent from 3.13 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.