Wall Street ends wavering session slightly positive

(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) U.S. stocks ended today's choppy session with slight gains as a massive winter storm prepares to hit the northeast and as investors digested news that the left wing anti-austerity Syriza party won the general election in Greece on Sunday.

At the closing bell in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 6 points to end at 17679 while the Nasdaq rose 14 points to finish at 4772 and the S&P 500 climbed 5 points to finish at 2057.

Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras already moved to form a coalition that will work to reverse years of austerity measures imposed on Greece by the Troika with concerns over the possibility of a Greek exit from the eurozone.

But global markets mostly shrugged off concerns over Greece as jittery European markets also turned to finish higher with investors instead focused on the QE program announced by the European Central Bank last week.

Light sweet crude for March delivery fell 44 cents or 1% to close at $45.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after wavering for most of the session in the wake of the Greek election. Gold futures also declined Monday as traders took profits following the Greece results which added uncertainty to markets. Gold for February delivery retreated $13.20 or 0.1% to settle at $1279.40 an ounce.

There were no major economic reports to kick off the trading week today but investors will be watching out for the the two-day meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers. The latest policy statement is due out on Wednesday afternoon with no post-statement news conference scheduled. 

In corporate activity it is the busiest week of the US earnings season with a slow start on Monday. D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) rose 5.5% after the home builder reported better-than-expected fiscal first quarter results as home deliveries jumped. 

After the closing bell Dow component Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) are among those headlining quarterly results. 

In other news Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) and PartnerRe (NYSE:PRE) have agreed to a $11 billion merger to create one of the world's largest reinsurers amid consolidation in the industry. The new company will be in the top five of reinsurers globally with more than $10 billion in combined policy sales.

MeadWestvaco (NYSE:MWV) and Rock-Tenn (NYSE:RKT) said they also plan to combine in a deal creating a packaging giant with nearly $16 billion in annual sales. 

Post Holdings (NYSE:POST) is acquiring privately-held MOM Brands for $1.15 billion with the vast majority of the consideration to be paid out in cash.

Elsewhere Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has agreed to a deal with the NFL to distribute some of the league's video on YouTube and surface highlight clips in Google search results ahead of the Super Bowl. 

Shire (NASDAQ:SHPG) gained 2.1% after the company received FDA approval for its drug Natpara which is designed to treat a condition known as hypoparathyroidism.