Dow Posts Fourth Straight Gain
NEW YORK--The Dow industrials rose for the fourth consecutive session in relatively listless trading, even as trade data from China raised concern about growth in the world's second-largest economy.</br></br>Monday's advance follows increases last week fueled by positive news about the U.S. labor market and progress toward resolving Greece's financial problems. Stocks opened flat and drifted in low trading volume after China posted a surprisingly large trade deficit last month.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.69 points, or 0.29%, to 12959.71. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index also extended its streak of gains to four trading days, ticking up 0.22 point, or less than 0.1%, to 1371.09. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.68 points, or 0.16%, to 2983.66, declining for the first time in four sessions.</br></br>Daily trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq was the lightest of the year.</br></br>"It seems as though the big question marks were solved in quick succession, and now a lot of that is reflected in prices," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.