Stocks Close Slightly Higher to Start Week

The U.S. stock market rose to start the week on Monday, but gains were muted as continued fears over the fiscal cliff kept a lid on risk appetite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed a little less than 15 points to close just below 13,170. The widely watched blue-chip average traded in a range between 13,139 and 13,195.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) added 0.04 percent to close at $142.47. Volume was very light with only around 93.5 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 133.4 million.

The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, climbed 0.29 percent to close at $65.12. The ETF's largest component, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), fell 0.64 percent to $529.82 as the sell-off in the stock continues.

Crude oil was slightly lower in the electronic trading session. On the day, NYMEX crude futures were last down 0.28 percent to $85.69. Brent crude contracts, however, had added 0.44 percent to around $107.49. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) closed the equity session down 0.48 percent to $31.38.

Precious metals were higher on Monday. At last check, COMEX gold futures had added 0.48 percent to $1,713.70 while silver futures were up the same amount to $33.29. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) closed the day at 0.41 percent to $165.80.

Long-term Treasuries were higher on the session. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) added 0.46 percent to $125.00. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell by one basis point to 1.62 percent.

The U.S. dollar was slightly lower 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, fell 0.14 percent to $21.96. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was basically flat on the day at $1.2929.