Financial sector

The late gains salvaged what had been a gloomy session through most of the day. Declines in consumer stocks kept major indexes in the red through most of the session amid concerns that the U.S. holiday-shopping season could be lackluster.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 10,345, +34.92, +0.34%) broke into positive territory for good with 45 minutes to go in Monday's session and ended with a gain of 34.92 points, up 0.3%, at 10,344.84, helped by gains in all its financial names. Bank of America /quotes/comstock/13*!bac/quotes/nls/bac (BAC 15.85, +0.38, +2.46%) rose 2.5%, J.P. Morgan Chase /quotes/comstock/13*!jpm/quotes/nls/jpm (JPM 42.49, +1.16, +2.81%) was up 2.8%, American Express /quotes/comstock/13*!axp/quotes/nls/axp (AXP 41.83, +0.99, +2.42%) rose 2.4%, and Travelers Group /quotes/comstock/13*!trv/quotes/nls/trv (TRV 52.39, +0.74, +1.43%) rose 1.4%. But the average's retail components fell, with Home Depot /quotes/comstock/13*!hd/quotes/nls/hd (HD 27.36, -0.25, -0.91%) off 0.9% and Wal-Mart Stores /quotes/comstock/13*!wmt/quotes/nls/wmt (WMT 54.55, -0.08, -0.15%) down 0.2%.
The S&P 500's financial sector leapt 2.7% -- more than triple that of the next best-performing category. That rally left the index with an overall gain of 0.3%