STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday as a deal for Silicon Valley Bank's assets helped investor confidence in banks, while a decline in technology shares weighed on the Nasdaq.

The Dow climbed six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 gained just under two-tenths, while the Nasdaq slid nearly half a percent.

Liz Miller is founder and president of Summit Place Financial Advisors.

“I think we're seeing the back and forth of inter-quarter as investors just continually try to digest, really, ‘Where have we ended first quarter compared to where we started this year?' We started this year with what we thought was a clear track forward, and we're ending the quarter with a lot more questions than answers.”

First among those questions, perhaps, is whether the banking sector has stabilized.

Shares of First Citizens shot up Monday after it said it would acquire the deposits and loans of Silicon Valley Bank, which failed earlier this month in the largest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis.

And shares of First Republic Bank rose after Bloomberg reported U.S. authorities were considering more support for banks, which could give the struggling San Francisco-based lender more time to shore up its balance sheet.

Tech-related growth shares, which have had a strong quarter, weighed on the Nasdaq Monday. Apple, Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google parent Alphabet all closed down.

Crypto shares were also down after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said crypto exchange Binance and its CEO have been sued by the commission for allegedly operating an "illegal" exchange and a so-called "sham" compliance program.

Among the session’s gainers, shares of Walt Disney were up after the company began 7,000 layoffs announced earlier this year.