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In a thin trading session on Monday, markets were on track for a finish in the positive zone as fears around the Greece debt crisis subsided. The technology, consumer and energy sectors chalked up gains after the benchmarks ended their six week losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 0.6% to finish at 12,080.38. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) was up 0.5% and settled at 1,278.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index finally settled in the green after three consecutive days of losses, climbing 0.5% to close at 2,629.66. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) posted its biggest drop since March 21 as it plunged 8.5% to settle near 20. On the New York Stock Exchange, AMEX and Nasdaq, consolidated volumes were 5.66 billion shares, significantly lower than the daily average of 7.58 billion. On the NYSE, consolidated volumes were 3.1 billion shares and for every stock that declined, two stocks managed to move up.

The Dow had dropped below the 12, 000 level last week but recouped the losses on Friday to trade above the psychological mark. On Monday, the Dow held its ground and only five of the thirty Dow components ended in the red. The five stocks that failed to advance were Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) and they dropped 0.8%, 0.1%, 0.03%, 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.

Analysts had expected that the S&P 500 might once again hit the low of 1, 250 recorded in March. The downturn had taken the index close to its average level over the preceding 200 days. After touching an intraday low of 1,258 last week, the index has rebounded and is somewhat above the technical level. Investors believe this is an indication for buying stocks unless the benchmark drops below 1, 250.

Among the benchmarks, the Nasdaq was the only index to end lower last week. The Nasdaq also failed to advance over the last three trading days, while the Dow and S&P 500 posted gains. However, the index finally gained on Monday. Nonetheless, the markets are still on course for a quarterly loss, the first such decline since the second quarter of 2010.

After a day when talks between France and Germany suggested a possible resolution to the country’s woes through a debt deal, Euro-zone finance ministers stated that they expect Greece to adopt harsher austerity measures in order to receive a higher bailout package. They also stated that such loans will be disbursed in mid-July. In other news, Italy’s rating was also put on review by credit rating agency Moody’s. 

Coming to individual stocks, the technology sector ended with significant gains and lifted the broader markets. Among the gainers on the tech front were Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL), Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and they gained 2.3%, 1.6%, 0.9%, 1.1% and 2.0%, respectively.

Consumer staple and discretionary stocks were among the leading gainers and the S&P consumer staples index gained 0.7%. The gains were led by stocks like Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT), J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M), Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:BONT) and Dillard's Inc. (NYSE:DDS) and they surged 2.2%, 1.5%, 2.6%, 1.4%, 6.1% and 2.6%, respectively.

Crude prices halted their losses as July crude-oil futures rose 25 cents to trade at $93.26 per barrel. The gainers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB), and they increased 0.9%, 0.8%, 0.5%, 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively.

 
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