US equities inch up on fiscal cliff hopes Equities made a modestly positive start to the post-Christmas trading session, amid hopes that politicians could still salvage a deal to avert the worst of the fiscal cliff before tax rises are scheduled to kick in within a week. The S&P 500 index was up 0.1 per cent to 1,428 in early trading and the narrower Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 per cent 13,162. The news that President Barack Obama planned to cut short his family holiday in Hawaii made some Wall Streeters more optimistic that Congress would soon vote to at least prevent tax rises on Americans earning less than $250,000 per year. The full fiscal cliff entails tax rises on almost everyone, plus the end of extended unemployment benefits and automatic spending cuts across the federal government. Economists calculate the $600bn fiscal contraction could send the US economy back into recession. In a bullish note to his clients, Andrew Brenner, trader at National Alliance Securities, described the development as "Obama blinks." He said: "We sense that a lightweight, kick-the-can-down-the-road deal is being worked and will be ready by the weekend." Trading was exceptionally light and was expected to remain so all week, with many market participants staying away from the office. Most stocks traded in a very narrow range. There was a clear trend in at least one sector, though: retail. And the trend: down. Most of the biggest losers in the S&P 500 were store chains, where footfall and consumer spending had been weak going into the final days of the holiday shopping season. The MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse survey, released on Christmas day, said sales in the last two months increased 0.7 per cent over last year. Analysts have been forecasting holiday sales of around 3 per cent or higher. Coach, the leather goods retailer, saw the worst initial decline, down 2.0 per cent at $56.34, closely followed by Urban Outfitters, the clothing retailer, off 1.7 per cent at $38.61. Ralph Lauren, down 1.3 per cent at $149.14, Tiffany & Co, down 1.6 per cent to $57.37, and department store chain Macy's, off 1.3 per cent at $37.04, were also among the notable casualties. Even Apple, whose gadgets were stuffed into the stockings of yet more households on Tuesday morning, fell 0.4 per cent to $517.88.