Dow Essentially Unchanged; Falls Short of 13,000 on Closing Basis Again

The U.S. stock market opened lower on Monday, but after a morning rally, stocks spent most of the session in positive territory. Some profit taking near the close, however, robbed the Dow of a finish above 13,000 and sent the index out with a loss of 0.01% at 12,981.51. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 12,882 and 13,027. The S&P and Nasdaq posted marginal gains. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY gained 0.17% to $137.16 to start the trading week. Volume was lighter than normal with 140.9 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 161 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, added 0.14% to $64.05. The QQQ is now up almost 15% in 2012 after a huge rally to start the year. Crude oil pulled back moderately on Monday but remains at elevated levels. NYMEX crude futures lost 1.87% to $107.72 while ICE Brent contracts fell 1.77% to $123.25. In ETF trading, the United States Oil Fund ETF USO shed 1.98% to $41.18. The USO is up around 8% in 2012. Gold also fell slightly on the day, but silver posted a very small gain. COMEX gold futures lost 0.49% to $1,767.70 while COMEX silver added 0.07% to $35.445. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD notched a loss of 0.32% to close at $171.70. Treasuries rallied strongly on Monday as hints of market jitters may be emerging. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT gained 0.89% to $118.54. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell 5 basis points to 1.93%. The U.S. Dollar was moderately stronger on the session. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, gained 0.32% to $21.88. The closely watched EUR/USD pair is currently trading at $1.3396.