Brent's Rise Rallies Chevron, Exxon

By KRISTINA PETERSON

Nasdaq OMX

IN THE RED: Clifford The Big Red Dog and Deborah Forte of Scholastic rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq.

NEW YORK—On an otherwise quiet day in the stock market, energy stocks strengthened as Brent crude-oil futures touched a two-and-a-half year high.

Chevron shares rose today despite a court ruling in Ecuador ordering that oil giant to pay more than $8.6 billion in pollution damages. Jonathan Cheng has details and a brief wrap of the rest of today's market action.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 5.07 points, or 0.04%, at 12268.19. Exxon Mobil rose $2.09, or 2.5%, to $84.91, while Chevron gained 1.22, or 1.3%, to 96.95 after ICE Brent crude for April delivery rose $2.14 a barrel, or 2.12%, to $103.08, the highest settlement since Sept. 26, 2008.

Weighing on the Dow, Wal-Mart Stores fell 89 cents, or 1.6%, to 54.80, after J.P. Morgan Chase cut the retailer's stock-investment rating to "neutral" from "overweight," predicting a prolonged deterioration in sales. Verizon Communications was also weak, falling 49 cents, or 1.4%, to 35.90.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 3.17, or 0.24% to 1332.32, closing at its highest level since June 19, 2008. The broad stock measure is now up 97% from the 12-1/2-year low of 676.53 hit on March 9, 2009.

The Nasdaq Composite added 7.74, or 0.28%, to 2817.18, its highest close since Nov. 6, 2007.

A bigger-than-expected surge of imports and exports in China last month lifted hopes that demand could rise for basic materials. Mining company Cliffs Natural Resources rose 5.16, or 5.9%, to 92.67, while aluminum giant Alcoa gained 22 cents, or 1.3%, to 17.59.

In the aftermath of the regime change in Egypt and with no major economic data on the calendar Monday, strategists said there was little pushing the market in either direction.

"Nothing is motivating investors to make radical shifts in their portfolios," said John Chisholm, chief investment officer at Acadian Asset Management.

Meanwhile, the euro dropped to a three-week low against the dollar as concerns over the health of German bank WestLB brought the fragility of the region's financial sector again to the forefront. Euro-zone leaders on Monday also failed to nail down any specifics about increasing the size or scope of Europe's bailout fund for debt-stressed states.

"Problems which originate from debt take a long time to solve, as we are learning in our economy," said Lawrence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Investors. "Europe will be wrestling with similar headwinds for some time to come, as will we."

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Steven Kaplan, a trader with JNK Securities Corp., works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S., on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011.

Among stocks in focus, Netflix rose 16.48, or 7.1%, to 247.55, after the company became the only paid video service to be a top-ten video service on the web by total number of streams and unique visitors, according to Nielsen.

MGM Resorts International fell 47 cents, or 3%, to 15.07, after its fourth-quarter loss narrowed significantly from a year earlier, but the company's casino revenue declined and revenue per available room fell on the Las Vegas strip.

Motorola Mobility Holdings slid 1.70, or 5.5%, to 29.45, after agreeing to buy a small company developing software to boost the security of mobile devices powered by the Android operating system and spur wider use by businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

U.S.-listed shares of Nokia dropped 52 cents, or 5.6%, to 8.84, extending its decline on Friday's announcement of a partnership with Microsoft. J.P. Morgan Cazenove downgraded Nokia to "underweight" from "overweight." On Monday, Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop said the company hopes to launch its first smartphone based on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform this year.

Seahawk Drilling fell 3.25, or 41%, to 4.65, after it said Friday it would file for bankruptcy protection and sell assets to Hercules Offshore, whose shares rose 65 cents, or 18%, to 4.27.

Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@dowjones.com