Markets mixed, stocks may need to consolidate

Markets were mixed on Monday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent, the STOXX Europe fell 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 was flat.

Markets were little-affected by the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.

However, gold rose 0.5 percent and US 10-year Treasury yields fell 5.7 basis points to 2.54 percent.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial, noted that the market's calm reaction to the assassination of the Russian ambassador showed that there is “very little fear among investors”.

Nevertheless, further gains may be limited in the short-term.

Cardillo thinks that the “stock market reached a point where it needs to consolidate before it can move higher” while Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG, sees “a pullback in the weeks ahead”.

Further out, a CNBC survey of 13 strategists' outlooks published since the US election found the median 2017 S&P 500 price target is 2,325, just a little higher than Monday's close of 2262.53.