Stocks finish flat as winter storm keeps many traders home

Stocks finished narrowly mixed in very light trading as a monstrous snow storm on the East Coast likely kept many traders home and a rate hike over the weekend by China dampened some investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 17.78 points, or 0.15 percent, at 11,555.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.84 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,257.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.67 points, or 0.06 percent, at 2,667.27.

American International Group (NYSE:AIG) surged 9.30 percent after It secured more than $4-billion in credit lines from banks, further removing it from the days of its government bailout AIG and its unit Chartis Inc entered into agreements for three separate credit facilities with banks, partially replacing credit lines from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Oil futures dropped modestly to $90.79 per barrel, gold futures climbed slightly.

Bonds modestly rose as the yield on the 10-Year Treasury slipped to 3.35 percent.

European indices were mixed; Britain’s FTSE Index gained 0.21 percent, but Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 tumbled 1.23 percent and 0.98 percent, respectively.