Wall St. flat; tech swoon counters gains for financials

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed little changed on Monday as a sharp decline in the technology sector offset a steep rise in financial stocks as investors bet on higher interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 21.58 points, or 0.11 percent, to 18,869.24, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 0.18 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,164.27 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 18.72 points, or 0.36 percent, to 5,218.40.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski)