Crude Surge Hinders Rally

Updated from 4:11 p.m. EDT

The S&P 500 traded through its all-time closing high Monday, but a sharp increase in oil prices kept the big-cap index from holding on and making history.

At the end of trading, the S&P was up 2.35 points, or 0.15%, to 1525.10. Earlier, it pushed above its best-ever finish of 1527.46, set in March 2000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also moved deeper in to record territory, rising by as many as 30 points, before pulling back. The Dow ultimately lost 13.65 points, or 0.1%, at 13,542.88.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq was the best performer of the bunch, better by 20.34 points, or 0.8%, at 2578.79.

For a time, the bulls appeared to be taking control of the session, but a steady advance in crude cut the rally short. June dated oil futures ended with a gain of $1.33 at $66.27 a barrel.

"The market was strong early, following last week's strength, but the shoot up in oil prices took the edge off," said Phillip Roth, chief technical market analyst with Miller Tabak. "I view this as an uptrend that is intact, but a lot of stocks are struggling. We'll continue to be choppy, and we probably will have a week without any progress."

About 3.31 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where advancers beat decliners by a 5-to-3 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.93 billion shares, as winners outpaced losers 2 to 1.