Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Monday after retail and homebuilders stocks rose amid expectations for interest rate cuts, but the trading session also saw banks and insurers fall on worries about further mortgage debt troubles. The Federal Reserve is set to meet on March 18, and analysts expect the central bank to cut rates at that meeting or perhaps even this month. At the same time, investors were chastened by news that American International Group Incorporated might have more mortgage debt to write off. The Dow Jones industrial average listed company said in a regulatory filing it would need to alter the way it values its credit default swaps involving collateralized debt obligations. The filing raised concerns that there will be further losses at AIG, and that other financial companies might reveal similar problems. AIG dropped $5.94, or 11.7 percent, to $44.74. The Dow rose 57.88, or 0.48 percent, to 12,240.01. Dow Jones & Company announced Monday that it was replacing two of the blue chip index's 30 components - Altria Group Incorporated and Honeywell International Incorporated - with Bank of America Corporation and Chevron Corporation, effective February 19. Broader stock indicators ended higher, too. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.84, or 0.59 percent, to 1,339.13, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 15.21, or 0.66 percent, to 2,320.06. The Russell 2000 rose by 0.85 to close at 699.75, while the New York Stock Exchange composite closed up 45.16 to 8,868.28. The American Stock Exchange composite rose 16.65 to 2,246.61. The price of a barrel of light, sweet crude oil for March delivery rose $1.92 to $93.59
