Stocks make small gains
First Posted:
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Stocks clawed back from early losses to post moderate gains as traders funneled money into utilities and industrial stocks.
Major market indexes ended at their highest levels in nearly a year.
Analysts said the day’s modest gains were impressive given the market’s strong run last week. They follow a powerful six-month rally that has lifted the Standard & Poor’s 500 index 55.1 percent.
“We open lower and buyers seem to chip away, and we climb higher,” said Adam Gould, senior portfolio manager at Direxion Funds in New York. “It’s somewhat healthy that we’re rallying this way — slowly.”
Monday’s zigzags came in sharp contrast to the tumult of a year ago, when the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 500 points in one day and jammed the credit markets that power the world’s economies. The S&P 500 index is still down 16.2 percent from that time and 33 percent from its peak in October 2007.
Traders reacted coolly to a speech across the street from the New York Stock Exchange from President .
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