Stocks Finish Mixed as Old Man Winter Rages

The Dow closes lower after China's decision to raise interest rates and as a blizzard socks the East Coast. Gregg Greenberg has The Real Story.
By Melinda Peer ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) - Stocks ended Monday's sparse trading session close to the flatline as

China's decision to raise interest rates heightened global growth concerns.

Financial and technology stocks strengthened late in the day, however, helping to pare earlier losses. All three major U.S. equity indices traded in tight ranges.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

closed down by 19 points, or 0.2%, at 11,555. The

S&P 500

finished nearly a point higher at 1258, and the

Nasdaq Composite

edged roughly a point ahead at 2667.

Light trading was already expected following the long Christmas holiday weekend, but a blizzard that pelted the East Coast over the weekend also contributed to the slow session. Heavy snowfall forced the cancellation of thousands of flights during the busy holiday travel weekend and New York-area airports were closed. 467 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, while 1.1 billion traded on the Nasdaq. Just over half of stocks ended in positive territory while 44% of stocks declined.

Keeping a cap on stocks Monday was China's decision on Saturday to

raise interest rates for the second time in little more than two months as the government increased efforts to combat inflation.

The news weighed most heavily on basic material stocks but

Procter & Gamble

(PG) - Get Report

,

Kraft Foods

(KFT)

and

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

were the Dow's biggest laggards.

Cisco Systems

(CSCO) - Get Report

topped the Dow as shares gained 2.4% to $20.16 following a report in

Barron's

that said shares may rise as the company sees stronger demand for equipment and as the company begins paying dividends.

Financials and conglomerates showed the strongest gains during Monday's session.

American International Group

(AIG) - Get Report

rose 9.3% to $59.38 on news that the insurance company entered into

two, $1.5 billion credit facilities less than two weeks after the insurer laid out plans to exit a government bailout. The facilities were arranged by 36 banks including

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

,

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

and

JPMorgan

(JPM) - Get Report

.

Bank of America, JPMorgan and

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

were also among the Dow's top gainers.

Shares of

Sterling Financial

(STSA) - Get Report

finished 13.3% higher at $19.65 after a FBR Capital Markets analyst

initiated the stock at a buy rating, citing Sterling's capital raise in August and tough credit management actions that should stabilize credit losses.

There were no economic reports scheduled for Monday's session.

Shares of

DryShips

(DRYS) - Get Report

lost 7% to $5.55 following news that it would

buy a dozen oil tankers from a Korean ship company.

Retailers traded lower as the blizzard that dumped as much as two-feet of snow on the U.S. East Coast deterred shoppers on a busy post-Christmas shopping day. The

SPDR S&P Retail ETF

(XRT) - Get Report

finished off by 0.5% at $48.23.

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

upped its first-quarter

global shipment order for iPhones to 20-21 million units, from 19 million, according to a report in

DigiTimes

. Shares gained 0.3% at $324.68.

Shares of

H&R Block

(HRB) - Get Report

shed 7% to $11.80 following news that

HSBC

(HBC)

ended its long-term contract with H&R to provide tax refund anticipation loans and checks. The decision was prompted by a regulatory directive by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Egg producer

Cal-Maine Foods

(CALM) - Get Report

reported a 5.6% drop in second-quarter earnings and missed analysts' profit expectations with adjusted earnings of 63 cents a share. The stock lost 3.6% at $32.61.

In commodity markets, the February crude oil contract settled down by 51 cents to close at $91 a barrel after touching a two-year high on Thursday, the last trading session. The February gold contract added $2.40 to settle at $1,382.90 an ounce.

The dollar weakened against a basket of currencies with the dollar index down by 0.2%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note strengthened 17/32, diluting the yield to 3.331%.

.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was closed for a holiday while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8%. The FTSE in London was also closed while the DAX in Frankfurt closed down by 1.2%.

--Written by Melinda Peer in New York

.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.

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