Stocks Close Near Unchanged Mark

U.S. equities traded lower for most of the session on Monday, but a late day rally helped to push all of the major averages into positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up a little more than 2 points at 13,346. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 13,235 and 13,368.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) added 0.01 percent to $143.41. Volume was light once again with only 108.1 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 121.8 million.

The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, climbed 0.52 percent to close at $66.02. The broader Nasdaq stock market added 0.38 percent to 3,017.

Crude oil was lower to start the week. NYMEX crude futures were trading down 1.48 percent to $89.10 in the electronic session. Brent crude futures had lost 0.39 percent to $109.71. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) fell 1.32 percent to $32.90.

Gold and silver notched moderate gains on Monday. COMEX gold futures added 0.28 percent to $1,728.80 while silver futures were 0.94 percent higher to $32.40. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) gained 0.38 percent to $167.58.

Treasuries fell on the session after rallying on Friday. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) fell 0.62 percent to $120.96. The yield on the 10-Year Note rose 4.8 basis points to 1.81 percent.

The U.S. dollar was flat on the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, finished unchanged. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading at $1.3046.