U.S. stocks ended modestly higher on Monday as investors were expecting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would announce a new stimulus program later this week.
Monday's trading was quite choppy. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average ended only 37 points higher after gaining 203 points at session high as weakness in financial sector weighed on the average.
Bank of America slumped nearly 8 percent, the biggest drop among the 30 Dow companies, and JPMorgan Chase dropped more than 2 percent as worries about European debt crisis still haunted big banks.
With no major economic data released on Monday, investors were cautiously awaiting Bernanke's speech later this week in the annual central bank's meeting, hoping the Fed is going to announce some new measures to stimulate the economy.
Last year at the same meeting, the Fed announced its second round of Quantitative Easing program, giving equity market an instant boost.
Monday's move came after major indexes fell for the fourth straight week on concerns of European debt problems and a double- dip recession in the United States.
As of Monday's close, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 37.00 points, or 0.34 percent, to 10,854.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 inched up 0.29 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,123.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 3.54 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2, 345.38.
