Gains in several big-name tech companies including Apple helped nudge the S&P 500 to another record high Monday, even as other parts of the market faltered.

The benchmark index was lower for most of the day, then turned higher in the last 10 minutes of trading, ending up 0.2%. The Nasdaq rose 0.7%, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average and small-company stocks fell.

Trading has been choppy as investors gauge the strength of the economic recovery and whether emerging signs of inflation will be transitory, as the Federal Reserve believes.

The Fed holds its latest meeting on interest rate policy this week.