Stocks were stuck in choppy, listless trade for the entire session on Monday, 08 March, 2010. Though the broader market continued to gyrate along the neutral line, the Nasdaq Composite managed to end with a modest gain. There was absolutely no market moving catalyst for the day and the day was devoid of any major corporate news. Trading volume marked lower than normal.

At the end of the day on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower by 13.68 points at 10552.52. Nasdaq ended higher by 5.86 points at 2332.21. S&P 500 ended lower by 0.2 points at 1138.5. Dow opened 1.6 points higher earlier during the day.

Six of ten economic sectors ended lower led by the industrials, healthcare and consumer staples sectors. Telecom and technology sectors featured among the winners.

Seventeen of thirty Dow components ended in the red on Monday. Cisco Systems and Mc Donalds were a couple of winners. H-P was the main Dow laggard.

Mc Donalds shares were up after the fast-food chain reported a better-than-expected 4.8% rise in its global same-store sales in February. H-P was a Dow laggard after the company revised its first quarter earnings.

The Nasdaq Composite has managed to maintain a modest gain as large-cap tech issues like Cisco Systems and Research In Motion provided support.

Market stopped reacting to previous day's better than expected job report that hit the wires last Friday. The Labor Department in US had reported on Friday that U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined for the 25th time in the past 26 months, falling by 36,000 in February to a seasonally adjusted 129.5 million. Market was expecting a figure around 68,000. The nation's jobless rate was steady at 9.7%. Job losses in February were concentrated in construction, schools, transportation, insurance, and publishing sectors.

Among major corporate news, AIG reportedly has offloaded its American Life Insurance Company to MetLife in a $15.5 billion deal, which marks AIG's second multibillion dollar transaction in one week. AIG's announcement has helped win support for insurers, which have kept the broader financial sector out of negative territory this session.

Trading volume was comparatively low on the bourses today. Advancing stocks outran decliners by about three to two on the New York Stock Exchange, where composite volume topped 3.9 billion shares. In 2009, daily trading volume averaged 5.5 billion.

In the currency market on Monday, the dollar had been down roughly 0.4% at its session low earlier in the day but it ended the day with a 0.4% gain. The dollar earlier fell against the euro after French President Nicolas Sarkozy indicated over the weekend that Greece's euro-zone partners stood ready to provide help if needed to avoid a default.

Crude prices ended modestly higher on Monday, 08 March 2010. Prices rose on anticipation of global recovery in the coming month. But prices ended off their session highs. Prices pared gains partly as the dollar was lifted up later in the day. On Monday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for April delivery closed at $81.87/barrel (higher by $0.37 or 0.4%). Prices rose to a high of $82.47 during intra day trading. Prices gained 2% last week.

Among other energy products on Monday, gasoline for April delivery rose 1.9 cents to $2.29 a gallon, while heating oil for the same month rose to $2.11 a gallon from $2.10 a gallon. Also on Monday, natural gas for April delivery fell 6.6 cents, or 1.4%, to $4.53 per million British thermal units.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Monday. Tata Motors was the main loser shedding 3% while Punjab Tractors soared 3.2%.

No economic data is expected tomorrow. Earning reports will continue to pour in tomorrow.