Stocks Close Slightly Higher to Start Week

The U.S. stock market rose to start the week on Monday, but gains were muted as continued fears over the fiscal cliff kept a lid on risk appetite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed a little less than 15 points to close just below 13,170. The widely watched blue-chip average traded in a range between 13,139 and 13,195. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY added 0.04 percent to close at $142.47. Volume was very light with only around 93.5 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 133.4 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, climbed 0.29 percent to close at $65.12. The ETF's largest component, Apple AAPL, fell 0.64 percent to $529.82 as the sell-off in the stock continues. Crude oil was slightly lower in the electronic trading session. On the day, NYMEX crude futures were last down 0.28 percent to $85.69. Brent crude contracts, however, had added 0.44 percent to around $107.49. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO closed the equity session down 0.48 percent to $31.38. Precious metals were higher on Monday. At last check, COMEX gold futures had added 0.48 percent to $1,713.70 while silver futures were up the same amount to $33.29. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD closed the day at 0.41 percent to $165.80. Long-term Treasuries were higher on the session. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT added 0.46 percent to $125.00. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell by one basis point to 1.62 percent. The U.S. dollar was slightly lower on the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, fell 0.14 percent to $21.96. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was basically flat on the day at $1.2929.