U.S. Stocks Trade Narowly Mixed

Updated from 9:24 a.m. EDT

Stocks on Wall Street kicked off the week with a narrowly mixed open Monday as reminders of the ongoing housing and credit crises contrasted with solid earnings reports from several big Wall Street names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was shedding 46 points to 11,325, and the S&P 500 gave up half a point to 1257. The Nasdaq gained 3.5 points to 2314.

Over the weekend, a slew of corporate news emerged to help set the tone for Monday's trading. In a new development for the ongoing credit crisis, the government said last Friday that it had closed two banks, First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank of Newport Beach California. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is backing the banks' deposits.

Meanwhile, Congress on Saturday passed a housing bill that would help homeowners refinance their mortgages and prop up battered government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae (FNM Quote) and Freddie Mac (FRE Quote).

Also on Saturday, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR Quote) and Sirius (SIRI Quote) got the government's blessing on their long-awaited merger deal.

Elsewhere, the The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts intends to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

As earnings season continues to chug along, foodmaker Kraft (KFT Quote) reported a year-over-year increase in profits, beating expectations. Tyson Foods (TSN Quote), on the other hand, saw profits decline and fall short of estimates on rising chicken costs.

Wireless telecom company Verizon (VZ Quote) announced second-quarter earnings that, excluding charges, beat expectations.

Away from earnings, automaker Toyota (TM Quote) said it would scale back production for 2008 as it deals with soft U.S. demand.

As for commodities, crude oil was rising $1.08 to $124.34 a barrel. Gold was up $1.40 at $938.30 an ounce. On Friday, the national average gasoline price dipped below $4 a gallon for the first time since May and was recently at $3.97 a gallon.

Treasury prices were recently rising. The 10-year note was up 16/32 to yield 4.03%, and the 30-year was up 31/32, yielding 4.62%. The dollar was slipping against the euro, the yen and the pound.

Global markets were mixed. The FTSE in London, the DAX in Frankfurt and the Nikkei in Japan were all rising, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong were falling.