Dow Jones, S&P 500 hit 2-1/2 year high

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 hit another 2-1/2 year high led by banking pack backed by positive cues from Europe on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 70 points at 12,162. The Nasdaq Composite was up 15 points at 2,784 and S&P 500 index went up 8 points at 1,319.

US Advancing Sectors: Financial gained 1.5%, Industrials went up 1% and Utilities rose 0.7%.

Asian markets opened mixed; Nikkei and Hang Seng were up 0.3%. Taiwan and Kospi fell 0.4%. Straits Times was down 0.1%.

European shares hit highest close since September 2008: CAC was up 1.08%, DAX up 0.93% and FTSE up 0.89%. CBOE VIX was up 2.2% at 16.28.

Demand for Portugal's 5-year bond was around Euro 6 billion, double the minimum placement announced earlier

Alert: Chinese markets shut today

US Economic News

December consumer credit increased USD 6.09 billion versus increase of USD 2.02 billion in November. Market expected USD 2.50 billion increase

Currencies

Dollar rose against the euro for the fourth consecutive session

Dollar was up 25 bps versus Euro at 1.358

Yen was down 10 bps versus USD at 82.3

Commodities

March natural gas fell 4.5% at USD 4.11 per MMBtu, lowest levels since late December

March crude oil was down 1.7% at USD 87.48/barrel, lowest level in over a week

April gold prices were flat at USD 1348.20 per ounce

March silver was up 1.4% at USD 29.35 per ounce

Cotton gained 4.3%

Data to watch

Earnings from Toyota, UBS, Disney and McAfee