Stock market: Wall Street drifts as traders adjust to high interest rates

Oil prices have jumped to their highest levelin more than a year, whichis pressuring the economy by raising fuel costs for everyone

Stocks are drifting Monday as the constrictor of higher interest rates tightens its coils around Wall Street. The S&P 500 was little changed early Monday. The Dow slipped 18 and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.3%. Stocks have given back about 40% of their strong gains for the year since the end of July. The main reason is the growing acceptance that high rates are here to stay a while as the Federal Reserve tries to knock inflation lower. That has pushed Treasury yields to their highest levels in more than a decade, which makes investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks.

Wall Street pointed modestly lower early Monday after Congress narrowly averted a U.S. government shutdown with a last-minute, weekend compromise.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials each ticked down about 0.2% before the opening bell Monday.