NEW YORK: US stocks posted modest gains Monday as wary investors focused on European Union talks aimed at forging a deal on Greece's debt write-down with private bondholders.
After the first hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 22.66 points (0.18 percent) to 12,743.14, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 9.83 points (0.35 percent) to 2,796.53.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 4.48 points (0.34 percent) to 1,319.86.
"With no major domestic economic reports slated for release today, traders are cautiously keeping an eye on the results of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers regarding the region's ongoing fiscal struggles," said Karee Venema at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Investors watched Greece's struggles to obtain a debt writedown with private-sector bondholders that would pave the way for additional financing to avert a default.
The EU's euro commissioner Olli Rehn said Monday he was optimistic that negotiations with banks on a massive write-down of Greek government debt could be wrapped up, "preferably" this week.
"I am confident that we can conclude negotiations on the PSI shortly, preferably in the course of this week," Rehn said on arrival for talks among eurozone finance ministers set to focus on difficult negotiations in Athens on the so-called private-sector involvement.
Financial stocks made robust gains. Bank of America jumped 3.6 percent, Citigroup was up 2.1 percent and Goldman Sachs rose 1.6 percent.
There were no major economic data on the calendar Monday and Tuesday. The Federal Reserve opens a two-day policy meeting Tuesday, followed that night by President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to Congress, expected to focus on the economy.
A shakeup at the top of Research in Motion, the struggling Canadian maker of the BlackBerry, was in the spotlight.
RIM co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie announced Sunday their resignations following months of investor pressure for a change at the helm of RIM, which has been steadily losing market share to Apple's iPhone and handsets powered by Google's Android software.
Chief operating officer Thorsten Heins, who joined RIM in 2007, was named president and CEO. RIM shares traded in New York plunged 8.0 percent to $15.87.
Heins "cannot claim that he his the right person to take RIM in a new direction because he has been such a critical part of the old one," said Douglas McIntyre at 24/7WallSt.com.
The major indexes had ended Friday with holiday-shortened weekly gains of 2.0 percent-plus, lifted by strong fourth-quarter company earnings.
Bonds weakened. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.08 percent from 2.03 percent Friday, while the 30-year increased to 3.17 from 3.10 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
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