NEW YORK — Wall Street turned in a mixed performance yesterday as investors watched the price of oil regain ground and decided to cash in some of their gains from the stock market’s big rally last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29.23, or 0.25 percent, to 11,467.34 after moving in and out of positive territory.

Broader indexes showed more modest declines. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 0.68, or 0.05 percent, to 1,260.00; and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 3.25, or 0.14 percent, to 2,279.53.

The moves follow a strong week for the markets. The Dow last week rose 3.57 percent, while the S&P rose 1.71 percent and the Nasdaq increased 1.95 percent.

Stocks of Rhode Island interest fell yesterday, led by The Stanley Works and BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. The Bloomberg Rhode Island Index, a price-weighted list of companies with operations in the region, fell 1.07 to 239.19. Stanley fell $1.81 to $43.44. BJ’s fell $1.58 to $39.50.

While the market’s major indexes showed modest losses, the number of stocks advancing outpaced decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and by about 4 to 3 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The tame session unfolded as oil rose on concerns that the threat of new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could escalate tensions in the Middle East. Light, sweet crude oil rose $2.16 to settle at $131.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The rise in oil offset initial market enthusiasm after Bank of America Corp. posted results that beat expectations, raising hope the credit crisis might be easing for the nation’s biggest retail banks. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets reported that higher investment banking and record revenue helped drive earnings during the second quarter.

With Bank of America’s results, four of the nation’s five biggest banks have now reported better-than-expected earnings, and that’s raising hopes that the financial sector is starting to recover from the year-old credit crisis.

Still, “with crude trading up near $130, and a big advance last week, some investors are taking chips off the table,” said Jim Herrick, manager of equity trading at Baird & Co. “We’re going to be in a tight trading range this week based on earnings and oil prices. I expect more of the same.”

The market was also uneasy about drug makers Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. Both pharmaceutical companies fell after a new study showed their cholesterol drug Vytorin did not meet its main goals.

Bond prices rose yesterday as the major stock indexes declined. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.04 percent from 4.09 percent late Friday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Some 158 members of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and 10 of the 30 Dow industrials are slated to post results this week. One of the biggest yesterday was Bank of America, which reported that increased bad debt due to the housing slump pushed profits down 41 percent. However, it still surpassed expectations because of a solid performance in its business not tied to real estate. The stock rose $1.07, or 3.9 percent, to $28.56.

But another Dow component weighing in after the closing bell could rattle investor sentiment. American Express Co.’s second-quarter profit tumbled 38 percent — results that came in well short of predictions — as consumer spending slowed and credit indicators deteriorated beyond the company’s expectations. The stock fell $1.29, or 3.1 percent, to $40.90 on the day and declined more than 10 percent in after-hours electronic trading.

Investors were somewhat optimistic during yesterday’s session that mergers and acquisitions, which have been sluggish since the credit crisis began last year, might be reviving. Swiss drug maker Roche Holding announced plans to acquire the stake in Genentech Inc. it doesn’t already own for $43.7 billion, making it the seventh-largest pharmaceuticals company in the U.S.

Shares of Genentech were among the best performers during the session, rising $12.06, or 14.7 percent, to $93.88.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.55, or 0.66 percent, to 697.63.

Consolidated volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 4.50 billion shares, compared with 5.49 billion shares traded Friday.

Overseas, markets in Japan were closed for a holiday. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.52 percent, Germany’s DAX index added 0.66 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.65 percent.