Stocks finished mostly higher, but off session highs, after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the latest round of quantitative easing and monetary policy cooled earlier enthusiasm over strong data from the manufacturing sector. The ISM index climbed to 51.5 from a three-year-low of 49.6 in August, the highest score since May. Tech stocks gave up early gains to slip into the red, as Apple’s losses weighed down the Nasdaq Composite Index, sliding 1.2%. Oracle added 1.67% after the co. unveiled new features for cloud-based enterprise software service on its annual OpenWorld conference over the weekend. H-P gained 0.88% ahead of a meeting with analysts on Wednesday at which Chief Executive Meg Whitman is expected to further outline her turnaround strategy for the company. Dell gave up 6% after IHS iSuppli drastically cut its forecast for sales of so-called "ultrabooks" for the year, saying the PC industry "has failed to create the kind of buzz and excitement among consumers". Facebook gained 1.5% after Oppenheimer lowered its price target to $27 from $41, but kept its outperform rating. Implied volatility inched higher on moderate trading volumes.
