File photo dated June 24, 2008. (UPI Photo/John Angelillo) .

NEW YORK, July 21 (UPI) -- An early boost in U.S. stock indexes tailed off to the close Monday with major boards ending with modest declines.

Stocks gained on better-than-expected earnings by Bank of America and news that Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG had offered to buy the 44-percent stake of biotech company Genentech that it doesn't already own for $43.7 billion.

But, oil prices rose Monday, worrying investors about another round of commodity inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 29.23 or 0.25 percent at the close to 11,467.34. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 3.25 or 0.14 percent to 1,260.00. The Nasdaq composite index lost 3.25 or 0.14 percent to 2,279.53.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,034 stocks advanced and 1,115 declined on a volume of 1.204 billion shares traded.