Fiscal cliff concerns weigh on Wall St US equities opened higher on Monday as Wall Street looked to move on from a post-election slump that sent stocks to their lowest level in three months last week. The benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.2 per cent to 1,383.80 as the week's first trading session got under way with expectations of lower volumes as the US bond market is closed for a national holiday. The benchmark fell 2.4 per cent last week as fears of political gridlock in Washington gripped investors following the outcome of the US elections. The Nasdaq Composite index moved 0.4 per cent higher to 2,914.93 as the tech-heavy benchmark looks to shake off five consecutive weeks of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.1 per cent to 12,829.79. On Monday, investors tried to gauge the chances that the US would find a compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax rises and spending cuts that could push the sluggish economy back into a recession. "We still believe that the fiscal cliff will be averted with compromise legislation, but President Obama's re-election and a larger Democrat majority in the Senate raise the likely amount of tax hikes versus spending cuts in the new legislation," said David Bianco, chief equity strategist at Deutsche Bank, as he urged clients to buy shares after the recent dip in stocks. Others expressed more doubt. Barry Knapp, chief equity strategist at Barclays, said: "With a polarised federal government we do not see an increased probability of avoiding the tax cliff, brinksmanship over the debt ceiling or enacting pro-growth tax and entitlement reform in 2013." Shares in Jefferies jumped 13.4 per cent to $16.18 after US financial holding group Leucadia National said it would buy the mid-sized US investment bank in a deal that values it at $3.6bn. Leucadia shares fell 4.4 per cent to $20.83. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year and comes a week after Stifel Financial , a rival investment bank to Jefferies, said it would buy boutique financial specialist KBW for $575m. Shares in Stifel gained 1.6 per cent to $30.81. Chris Harris, analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, said: "We think these deals are indicative of an extremely challenging environment for the standalone investment bank model. We also think they could signal a lack of confidence in the potential recovery to volumes by certain industry insiders since one could argue that now would not be a good time to sell if volumes are set to materially rise. Apple shares were 0.7 per cent higher to $550.65 as the iPad and iPhone maker tries to recover its gaining ways after falling into bear territory, down more than 20 per cent in recent weeks. Retailer Target Corp fell 0.5 per cent to $61.78 as it followed Walmart , the world's largest retailer by revenues, in saying that it would open its holiday discounting period early this year. Walmart shares were fractionally lower to $72.29.