Dow mixed despite tech rally

Wall Street was unable to shake its malaise over interest rates today, closing mixed despite a rally in technology stocks and a series of upbeat earnings reports from companies, including 3M and Eli Lilly. The Nasdaq composite index broke a four-day losing streak.

Worries about rates preoccupied investors for a fifth straight session. While they again shrugged off solid earnings, they also looked past the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators, which showed a 0.3% rise in March, in line with Wall Street expectations. The market had hoped the report would show that the economy was growing fast enough to create jobs, but was concerned that a better-than-expected reading might help prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.