NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks struggled Monday, as investors turned cautious after pushing the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new 2009 highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 3 points, or less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 (SPX) index lost less than one point. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 3 points, or 0.1%.

All three major gauges had risen soundly through the early afternoon, with rising oil prices and continued economic optimism lifting the market. But the gains dissolved in the afternoon, with only the energy sector remaining buoyant.

"We've got a lot of economic news coming out later this week and I think people are kind of waiting to see if the reports confirm the economy is bottoming," said John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan.

Standouts this week include a consumer confidence report Tuesday, housing reports Tuesday and Wednesday and the revised read on second-quarter GDP growth Thursday.

Crude oil prices touched a fresh 10-month high and lifted oil services stocks, including Dow components Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500). But big consumer names including Kraft Foods (KFT, Fortune 500), Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) and Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500) all declined.

Stocks rallied Friday after Fed chief Ben Bernanke said the economy is near a recovery and existing home sales posted their biggest jump in two years. That sent the Dow to its highest close since Nov. 4, the S&P 500 to its highest close since Oct. 6 and the Nasdaq to its highest close since Oct. 1.

Stocks have had a surprisingly upbeat summer, as investors have welcomed a number of better-than-expected quarterly results and economic reports.

The S&P 500 is up 52% from the March 9 lows, as of Friday's close. And the Dow is up 45% during that same time period. After a run of that magnitude in such a short period of time, many analysts predict that stocks are due for a pullback, perhaps by as much as 15%. However, the momentum remains up, and with historically high amounts of cash held in mutual funds, the advance doesn't appear to be flagging.

"A lot of people didn't get in at the March lows and there's still a lot of buying interest out there," Wilson said. "We could see a number of 3 to 5% corrections, but I think people will use them to get back in."

Company news: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Fortune 500) gained 8% after Citigroup upgraded the chipmaker to "buy" from "hold." The brokerage said that while AMD is struggling now, its businesses are starting to stabilize.

Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) shares both surged on economic optimism and in reaction to Friday news that the Federal Reserve bought $5.6 billion of Fannie, Freddie and Federal Home Loan Bank debt.

Nokia (NOK) is planning to expand its traditional cell phone business by introducing a mini-laptop early next month. The Nokia Booklet 3G will use Microsoft's Windows software.

Dow component Procter & Gamble (PG, Fortune 500) said its selling its pharmaceuticals business to drugmaker Warner Chilcott (WCRX) for $3.1 billion. P&G shares were little changed, while Warner Chilcott shares surged 27%.

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners narrowly edged losers on volume of 1.23 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers seven to six on volume of 2.06 billion shares.

This last week of summer is expected to bring low trading volume as market pros head out on vacation or hold off on making any big changes in their portfolios until the fall.

World markets: Global markets followed the lead of U.S. markets Friday. Asian markets advanced, with the Japanese Nikkei rising 3.4%. European markets rallied.

Oil: U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose 48 cents to settle at $74.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a 10-month high.

Bonds: Treasury prices rallied at the start of a week that brings over $100 billion in government debt auctions. The rise in prices lowered the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.48% from 3.56% Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Other markets: COMEX gold for December delivery fell $11.10 to settle at $943.60 an ounce.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and gained against the Japanese yen.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Investors are hoping the surprisingly strong summer market rally will last at least one more week -- before any second-guessing in the fall kicks in.

"We saw a huge rebound at the end of last week and that will probably carry over," said Richard Hughes, co-president of Portfolio Management Consultants. "But the trading volume is going to be very light."

The S&P 500 has jumped just shy of 52% since hitting a 12-year low on March 9. Bets that the sky is not falling after all and the economy will recover - paired with generous fiscal and monetary stimulus - have boosted the market.

But the recent leg of the advance has been run on thin trading volume, even for summer. Low volume tends to exaggerate market moves.

"It won't be until September that we'll be able to really see how it settles," Hughes said. "The focus is shifting from wondering when the recession is going to end to wondering what a recovery is going to look like," he said.

Next week brings reports on personal income and spending, as well as home prices, all of which are important in the bigger discussion about how the consumer is holding up. A revision of second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) is also on tap.

Confirming a recovery: Last week, Fed chief Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy is nearing a recovery, although the pace will be slow as unemployment stays high.

Reports on housing and manufacturing showed surprising gains last week, while the closely-watched weekly jobless claims report showed more Americans filed for first-time benefits than economists were expecting. In the weeks ahead, Wall Street is going to be looking for more confirmation that a recovery is underway.

"Typically when you're moving from recession to expansion, you get numbers that conflict with each other, like the jobless claims," said David Chalupnik, head of equities at First American Funds. "That trend will continue."

He said that of greater interest in the weeks ahead will be "how quickly the economy makes the transition" into a period of expansion and whether the consumer starts spending again. Consumers have jumped into the government's soon-to-end Cash for Clunkers program, but have otherwise held back on non-essentials..

Monday: There are no market moving events on the schedule Monday.

Tuesday: The August consumer confidence index from the Conference Board is expected to have risen to 48.8 from 46.6 in July, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

The S&P/CaseShiller home price index, a measure of 20 major cities, is expected to have fallen 16.4% in June versus a year ago after falling 17.1% in May. If that estimate turns out to be accurate, it would be the third month in a row that the pace of declines has lessened.

In May, the report showed that home prices rose versus the previous month, the first monthly increase in almost 3 years.

Wednesday: New home sales are expected to have risen to an annualized rate of 390,000 in July from an annualized rate of 384,000 in June. The Commerce Department report is due after the start of trading.

July durable goods orders are expected to have risen 3.2% after falling 2.5% in June. Orders, excluding transportation, are expected to have risen 1% after rising 1.1% in June. The Commerce Department report is due in the morning.

The weekly crude oil inventories report from the Energy Information Administration is also due in the morning.

Thursday: Second-quarter gross domestic product growth (GDP) is expected to have contracted at a 1.4% annualized rate, worse than the initially reported 1% rate, but not as sharp as the 6.4% decline in the previous quarter. The Commerce Department report is due before the start of trading.

A report is also due in the morning on weekly jobless claims.

Toll Brothers (TOL) reports results in the morning. The homebuilder is expected to report a loss of $1.26 per share versus a loss of 18 cents a year ago, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Dell (DELL, Fortune 500) reports results after the close. The computer maker is expected to have earned 23 cents per share versus 31 cents a year ago, according to forecasts.

Friday: The Commerce Department releases reports on July personal income and spending before the start of trading.

Income is expected to have risen 0.1% after falling 1.3% in June. Spending is expected to have risen 0.2% after rising 0.4% in June. The PCE Core deflator, the report's inflation component, is expected to have risen 0.1% after rising 0.2% in June.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index, due shortly after the start of trading, is expected to be revised up to 64.8 from the originally reported 63.2.