Dow Hits 13,000 Then Pulls Back

Stocks moved higher in morning trading on Tuesday as investors reacted to a much anticipated Greek debt deal. At its best levels, the Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the key psychological 13,000 mark before retreating in afternoon trade. At the close, the Dow had added around 16 points to 12,965. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 12,926 and 13,005. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY finished with a tiny gain of 0.04%. Despite the deal for Greece, volume was very thin with just 128.8 million SPY shares trading hands on the day compared to a 3-month daily average of 166.7 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, added 0.28% to $63.61. Another solid performance from Apple AAPL contributed to the outperformance of the Nasdaq 100. AAPL shares rose 2.54% to $514.85 on the session. Crude oil continued its disconcerting run higher on Tuesday on continued Iranian tensions. NYMEX crude futures surged 2.33% to $106.01 while ICE Brent crude contracts rose 0.98% to $121.23. In ETF trading, the United States Oil Fund ETF USO tacked on another 2.11% to $40.59. Going forward, continued elevated volatility in crude oil prices is likely as traders react to steepening geopolitical risks. Precious metals benefited from upbeat sentiment in the wake of the Greek deal on Tuesday. COMEX gold futures rose 2.03% to $1,761.00 while COMEX silver contracts gained 3.48% to $34.44. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD notched gains of 2.18% to $171.02 while the iShares Silver ETF SLV jumped 3.47% to $33.40. Sellers were active in the Treasury market in the wake of the Greek debt deal. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT fell 1.11% to $115.29. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell 5.7 basis points to 2.06%. The U.S. Dollar weakened as improved sentiment in the EU helped trigger a restrained euro rally. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, fell 0.41% to $22.04. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading at $1.3246.