US stocks drift ahead of Bernanke speech

NEW YORK: US stocks traded flat Monday as investors appeared to take a breather from last week's rally and awaited a speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

After opening with modest gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 23.31 points (0.19 percent) to finish at 12,400.03, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.41 point (0.01 percent) to 2,789.19.

The S&P 500-stock index, a broader measure of the markets, advanced a scant 0.46 point (0.03 percent) to 1,332.87.

"The lackluster action comes as participants use today's lack of catalysts as an excuse for taking a breather following last week's strong performance," Briefing.com analysts said in a client note.

In a week light on major economic and company earnings releases, Wall Street was focused on the upcoming Bernanke speech, expected at about 2315 GMT Monday at a conference hosted by the Atlanta Fed.

Bernanke has shown no inclination yet to pull back the central bank's emergency support of the government-led recovery, despite hints from other Fed officials that that could be possible.

"It seems unlikely that he will provide any 'new' insight on his outlook for monetary policy," said Briefing's Patrick O'Hare.

"Nonetheless, participants will be hyper-attentive to the Fed chairman's remarks at this time knowing that he helped launch this latest stock market rally with a speech last August in Jackson Hole that hinted at the likelihood of QE2 (quantitative easing)."

The Fed's $600 billion asset purchases program is due to end in June.

Oil prices surged to new heights Monday, with Brent crude closing at $121, topping $120 a barrel for the first time since August 22, 2008.

Wall Street stocks found support following last week's solid gains capped by a favorable US labor report on Friday and a flurry of global merger and acquisition deals, Charles Schwab analysts said.

Dow component Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceuticals company, announced Monday it has agreed to sell capsule-maker unit Capsugel to private-equity firm KKR for about $2.4 billion in cash. Pfizer shares added 0.79 percent at $20.54; KKR climbed 1.36 percent to $17.14.

After the market closed Monday, computer chip maker Texas Instruments said it would buy California rival National Semiconductor for $6.5 billion in an all cash deal.

In M&A moves abroad, British mobile phone giant Vodafone confirmed the sale of its stake in French rival SFR to Vivendi for $11 billion in cash, while China's Minmetals Resources made a $6.5 billion bid for Australian copper miner Equinox Minerals.

US budget airline Southwest Airlines fell 1.66 percent to $12.46 after one of its Boeing 737s blew a hole in the fuselage and was forced to make an emergency landing. Southwest has grounded part of its fleet for inspections. Boeing slipped 0.08 percent to $73.95.

The bond market was nearly unchanged. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.43 percent from 3.45 percent Friday, while that for the 30-year bond held at 4.49 percent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.