Stock Ended Higher Led by Tech Companies

U.S. stocks ended modestly higher on Monday with tech companies leading the gains. Dow Jones Industrial
Average rose 20.55 points, or 0.12%, to 16,511.86. The S&P 500 added 7.22 points, or 0.38%, to 1,885.08. The Nasdaq Composite gained 35.23 points, or 0.86%, to 4,125.81.

The Federal Reserve does not need to shrink its $4 trillion-plus balance sheet by even “a dime” for it  to normalize monetary policy when the time comes, former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said on Monday.

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pegging the chances of another financial crisis as “very low” in this lifetime thanks to reforms taken after the last meltdown.

AT&T Inc. (T) agreed to buy DirecTV (DTV) for $49 billion to create a pay-TV and wireless-phone giant with about $160 billion in combined revenue and well over 120 million subscribers for various services.