Investing.com - U.S. stocks posted cautious gains on Monday in a quiet session marked by anticipation for Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to appear before Congress on Tuesday.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.05%, the S&P 500 index gained 0.16%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.54%.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen will testify before the House of Representatives on Tuesday and the Senate on Thursday, and markets were eager for clues on the direction of monetary policy in wake of lackluster U.S. data.
On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy added 113,000 jobs in January, less than an expected 185,000 increase.
While soft, the numbers weren't seen as weak enough to prompt the Fed to seriously delay tapering its USD65 billion in monthly bond purchases, which aim to spur recovery by suppressing long-term interest rates, thus boosting stock prices in the process.
Still, uncertainty surrounding the pace at which the Fed will taper due to soft economic indicators gave stocks room to post cautious gains in a session void of major U.S. economic indicators.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Walt Disney, up 1.84%, The Travelers Companies, up 1.82%, and Coca-Cola, up 1.62%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included UnitedHealth, down 2.28%, Exxon Mobil, down 1.18%, and McDonald's, down 1.10%.
European indices, meanwhile, finished mixed.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.22%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.21%, while Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.13%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 finished rose 0.30%.