Does the market have a case of the Mondays? It certainly appears that way as the three major indexes have lazily gotten out of the starting gate this trading session. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is in the news and for reasons not iPad-related -- more on that in a minute. With homebuilding sentiment disappointingly flat from last month, the market seems unsure of what to do with data that do not further strengthen the case for recovery but that are still higher than at any point since 2007.

With that in mind, let's see how the major indexes are faring an hour and a half into today's trading session.

Index

Gain/Loss

Gain/Loss %

Ending Value

Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) (10.06) (0.08%) 13,222.56
Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) 4.34 0.16% 3,059.60
S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) 1.76 0.13% 1,405.93

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

All three major indexes are essentially flat as the market is slow to get moving. Despite more than half of its components in negative territory, the Dow is currently showing a minor 0.1% loss, while the Nasdaq is edging out the S&P 500 in performance, up roughly 0.2% to 0.1%.

Bank stocks initially opened down on global concerns but have since rallied back in a big way. In fact, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) actually leads all Dow components, with shares up 2.4%. The once-embattled financial has seen its stock go on a tear, up more than 75% so far in 2012, with a 20% improvement coming after it aced the Federal Reserve's stress test last week.

Apple is at the top of everyone's mind this morning. The largest publicly traded company in the world revealed plans for its $100 billion cash hoard. CEO Tim Cook indicated he was more willing to declare a dividend than founder Steve Jobs, which has proven to be the case. Apple has declared a $10.60 annual dividend, good for a 1.8% yield, and a $10 billion buyback spread out over three years. This was treated as welcome news by investors with shares up 1.5%, as Apple's stock is now eligible to be purchased by large funds previously shut out by dividend requirements.

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