NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stock markets ended the day mixed, with the Dow managing to eke out gains amid stress about rising interest rates, and the Nasdaq closing lower as some investors chose to cash in on Internet issues.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 32.07 to 9186.04, Charts) rose about 0.4 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (up 2.67 to 982.82, Charts) gained about 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite (down 1.56 to 1714.06, Charts) closed 0.1 percent lower.

Increasing worry about rising interest rates weighed on the financial sector, while profit-taking pressured techs throughout the trading day. Moderate trading volume managed to exacerbate the market's moves lower in morning trading and aided the rollercoaster ride stocks took throughout the afternoon. August traditionally is considered one of the slowest volume months for the markets.

"I think the market is just biding its time, and we're going to have these back-and-forth days," said Brett Gallagher, head of U.S. equities at Julius Baer.

Tuesday could bring more challenges for investors, who will get quarterly earning reports from No. 1 networker Cisco (CSCO: up $0.11 to $19.26, Research, Estimates), consumer goods maker Gillette (G: up $0.12 to $30.37, Research, Estimates), and financial services company Prudential (PRU: down $0.65 to $34.65, Research, Estimates).

Analysts forecast, on average, that Cisco will post a profit of 15 cents a share compared with 14 cents in the same period last year, according to tracking firm First Call. Gillette and Prudential are also expected to post an improvement in earnings from a year ago.

On the economic front, economists expect the Institute for Supply Management's services index to have fallen to 58 in July, on average, from 60.6 in June, according to a survey by Briefing.com.

Traders said concerns about the effect rising interest rates will have on financial issues put the broad market under pressure in early trading Monday. Many financial service companies saw their profits rise in the first half of the year, a result of the high rate of mortgage refinancing and new mortgages being taken out due to low interest rates.

But as rates begin to rise, traders said, there is worry the financial sector won't be able to sustain its earnings bounce. That rationale weighed on financials at the start of trading, but pressure lifted later in the day as bond yields stabilized.

Treasury prices headed higher, with the yield on the 10-year note at 4.28 percent. Treasury prices fell back to one-year lows periodically over the last week in response to economic news.

Techs also felt pressure, with profit-taking leading the Nasdaq lower.

"We're definitely seeing profit-taking," said Hedi Reynolds, head of Nasdaq trading at Morgan Keegan. "The momentum has kind of slowed down, and people are just sitting back, watching."

Internet issues slipped as some investors saw an opportunity to cash in after a long run higher. Shares of online auctioneer eBay (EBAY: down $1.92 to $103.36, Research, Estimates) slid 1.8 percent, online search portal Yahoo! (YHOO: down $0.68 to $30.78, Research, Estimates) lost about 2.2 percent, and Internet media company CNET (CNET: Research, Estimates) fell 4.4 percent. The Goldman Sachs Internet index slid 3 percent.

But chip issues reversed their decline in late-day trading, garnering some hope from a jump in chip sales. The Semiconductor Industry Association said worldwide sales rose to $12.54 billion in June, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. For the second quarter, sales rose to $37.6 billion, up 3.2 percent from the first quarter and up 10.4 percent from the same period last year. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index edged 0.4 percent higher.

Stocks chose initially to ignore the government's report that factory orders rose 1.7 percent in June, up from a 0.4 percent rise the previous month in the early going, but may have found some hope in the report later in the day. The reading came in slightly better than economists' forecast of a 1.5 percent gain, on average. The report drew little attention as it is generally considered a third-tier report and the reading was consistent with others that already have been released.

Investors have shifted their focus to economic reports, looking for signs of recovery, as earnings season winds down. Second-quarter fiscal results already have been reported by 400 of the S&P 500 companies. Some mixed reports Friday on jobs and manufacturing dampened spirits that rose earlier last week on surprisingly upbeat durable goods orders, GDP growth and weekly jobless claims readings.

Shares of phone service provider Verizon Communications (VZ: up $1.46 to $35.84, Research, Estimates) rose 4.3 percent as talks continued between the phone company and two unions in an effort to keep 80,000 workers from walking off the job. A union spokesman said "substantial progress" was made in Sunday's negotiations, which continued past the strike deadline of midnight ET Saturday.

U.S. Steel (X: up $0.73 to $16.31, Research, Estimates) jumped 4.7 percent after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss, excluding charges, ahead of the opening bell Monday. The company posted a profit a year earlier.

The Dow lost 1.4 percent last week, closing lower for the first time in five weeks. The Nasdaq lost 0.9 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 1.9 percent -- each had closed higher for three out of the past four weeks.

European markets ended the day mostly lower, while stocks in Asia also closed down Monday, hurt by concerns about the U.S. economy.

Light crude oil futures retreated 47 cents to $31.84 a barrel in New York. Gold rose $3.10 to $350.90 an ounce in New York.

The dollar edged lower against the euro but gained ground on the yen.

Market breadth was negative and volume was moderate. Decliners edged out advancers on the New York Stock Exchange by a margin of 2 to 1 on volume of 1.3 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners about 3 to 2 as 1.6 billion shares changed hands.