STEADY

Stocks Break Losing Streak

And hold on to modest gains.

The gains were modest, but at least the stock market started off the week without a huge plunge. The Dow closed Monday up 37 points, or 0.7%, to 10,854. The Nasdaq inched up 5.5 points while the S&P was flat. It was another volatile day. The Dow soared 200 points in the morning, nearly gave it all up by lunch, then jumped back up 100 points in the afternoon. Tech stocks like Hewlett-Packard led the blue chips higher, rising 4.3% after slumping 20% Friday. Investors are looking forward to a speech by Ben Bernanke at an annual Federal Reserve meeting on Friday. Last year, Bernanke's speech set the stage for a $600 billion program to stimulate the economy by buying Treasury bonds. Some analysts believe the Fed may make another move to help the U.S. avoid a double-dip recession.