Business Highlights

Stocks pare gains; Higher crude boosts energy

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors waiting for earnings reports to flow in traded cautiously Monday, giving up early gains and leaving the market narrowly mixed. The Dow Jones industrials reached a new 2009 trading high, edging closer to 10,000. The Dow closed up 20.86, or 0.2 percent, at 9,885.80.

Volume was light because of the Columbus Day holiday. Bond markets were closed and there were no economic reports.

A weaker dollar and a spike in oil prices above $73 drove energy and materials prices higher, but weakness in technology and industrial shares held the market back. Stocks got an early boost from a better-than-expected profit report from Dutch company Royal Philips Electronics. That sent Britain's leading stock indicator to its highest level in a year.

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American is first woman to win Nobel in economics

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in economics, honored along with fellow American Oliver Williamson on Monday for analyzing economic governance — the rules by which people exercise authority in companies and economic systems.

Ostrom was also the fifth woman to win a Nobel award this year — a record for the prestigious honors.

It was an exceptionally strong year for the United States, with 11 American citizens — some of them with dual nationality — among the 13 Nobel winners, including President Barack Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

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Oil, fuel prices jump as dollar, temperatures fall

UNDATED (AP) — Energy prices rose Monday as an October chill across much of the U.S. sent thermometers plummeting along with the weakening U.S. currency.

Benchmark crude for November delivery gained $1.50 to settle at $73.27 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The last time crude closed above $73 was in late August with the U.S. driving season in full swing.

Heating oil rose 4.16 cents to settle at $1.8944 a gallon and natural gas jumped 11 cents to settle at $4.88 per 1,000 cubic feet.