US stocks kick off new week with small gains

Five of ten sectors registered gains with energy holding the lead

U.S. stocks ended Monday's choppy trading session with small gains on 26 January 2015, as investors mostly shrugged off the Greek election results which brought the leftist Syriza party to power. The relative calm in global equity markets was attributed largely to lingering effects of the quantitative easing program announced by the European Central Bank last week, which overshadowed election results in Greece. After switching between small gains and losses, the main indexes closed marginally higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 6.1 points to 17,678.70. The Nasdaq ended the day up 13.88 points, or 0.3%, at 4,771.76. S&P 500 ended 5.24 points, or 0.3%, higher at 2,057.07.

Five of ten sectors registered gains with energy holding the lead throughout the day.

Because of the incoming storm, a State of Emergency was already declared in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, while the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to open and operate as usual on Tuesday. The NYSE operated as usual today, but that did not stop some participants from sitting the session out. Intraday volume was light, but a surge in late-afternoon activity brought the final tally at 780 million.

The technology sector spent the day behind other groups due to relative weakness among heavily-weighted components like Google, Oracle, Intel and Microsoft. Over on the countercyclical side, health care ended in the green while consumer staples, telecom services, and utilities lagged throughout the session.

New York-traded oil futures ended lower on Monday, 26 January 2015 at Nymex after shifting between gains and losses in the wake of an election win by Greek antiausterity party Syriza. Following reports of the outcome, which raised concerns that Greece could break the conditions of its international assistance and perhaps even leave the eurozone, Nymex's crude dropped to its lowest point in the session.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell 44 cents, or 1%, to close at $45.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Monday, 26 January 2014 at Comex. Gold futures declined on Monday as traders took profits after radical leftist party Syriza won the Greek election over the weekend, adding a dash of uncertainty to markets. After surging above the $1,300 per ounce level last week for the first time since August, April Comex gold futures have stumbled lower amid a modest corrective pullback on Monday.

Gold for February delivery retreated $13.20, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,279.40 an ounce. March silver futures shed 6 cents to $18.30 an ounce.

Traders will now look to Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy meeting for signals as to when interest rates might start to rise.

Treasuries registered modest losses with the 10-yr yield climbing two basis points to 1.82%.

Tomorrow, Durable Orders for December (consensus 0.5%) will be reported at 8:30 ET while the November Case-Shiller 20-city Index (consensus 4.3%) will be released at 9:00 ET. The Consumer Confidence report for January (consensus 96.0) will cross at 10:00 ET, alongside New Home Sales for December (consensus 450,000).

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