Stocks Finish Session with Moderate Gains

U.S. stocks ended a choppy trading session with modest gains on Monday, ahead of potentially market-swaying economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased earlier weakness to climb 23.57 points, or 0.15%, to 15,639.12. The S&P 500 gained 6.29 points, or 0.36%, to end at 1,767.93. The Nasdaq Composite added 14.55 points, or 0.37%, to 3,936.59.

BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY), coping with the collapse of a $4.7 billion buyout by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH), will raise $1 billion in convertible bonds and seek a new chief executive officer for the struggling company.

The Federal Reserve should scale back its asset purchase program only when the U.S. economy improves and even then only slowly, one senior U.S. central banker said on Monday.

Stephen Cohen’s SAC Capital has agreed to pay a record $1.8 billion in fines and will no longer invest money for outsiders to settle insider trading charges.