Stocks struggle post-Santa

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks posted slim gains in thin trade Tuesday after a disappointing report on holiday retail sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 24.03 to 12,367.25, Charts), the broader S&P 500 index (up 3.25 to 1,414.01, Charts) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (up 5.31 to 2,406.49, Charts) all added about 0.2 percent an hour into the session.

The so-called Santa Claus rally that has lifted stocks this month got sidelined late last week when stocks had trouble finding momentum ahead of the holiday weekend.

U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for Christmas.

All three major gauges were higher despite reports that sales for the holiday shopping period grew about 6.6 percent this year - below last year's 8.7 percent increase.

Oil prices also tempered gains after Iran stepped up threats in the wake of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Saturday due to its nuclear program.

Light sweet crude climbed six cents to $62.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Among stock movers, shares of Telik (Charts) sank 70 percent after the drugmaker said that its experimental cancer drug failed to improve survival in patients with advanced lung cancer or ovarian cancer.

Computer security researchers and hackers have found more flaws in Microsoft's (Charts) Vista, the long-awaited update to the Windows operating system, according to a report in Monday's New York Times, sending shares of the software giant down slightly.

Shares of major retailers also struggled, with Wal-Mart Stores (down $0.11 to $45.43, Charts), Target (down $0.60 to $56.72, Charts) and Sears (down $1.20 to $166.54, Charts) all lower.

With little news on the economic front, investors will be looking ahead to the Commerce Department's report on new home sales due out Wednesday and existing home sales later in the week.

Treasury prices edged higher early Tuesday, with the yield on the 10-year note slipping to 4.61 percent from 4.62 percent on Friday.

The dollar was little changed versus the euro and the yen.

Volume is expected to be light as many investors remain on vacation. Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers topped decliners by a margin of more than two to one on volume of 150 million shares. On the Nasdaq, winners beat losers by a margin of two to one as 200 million shares changed hands.

Markets that were open closed mostly higher in Asia, but some markets were closed there for Boxing Day, the holiday that follows Christmas. And all stock markets in Western Europe also were closed.

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