The week kicked off with a down day in the markets, as the Dow Jones closed Monday’s session below the psychological level of 10,000, its first trip under that mark in more than three months. Nevertheless, Tuesday’s trading was more upbeat, despite a report from the Commerce Department that showed a decrease in inventories.

With pessimism running rampant throughout businesses, inventories at the wholesale level receded 0.8% in December, as companies remain conservative about restocking their depleted supplies. The unexpected decline came as a surprise for economists, who were anticipating wholesale inventories to increase by 0.5% during the month.

The one bright spot in the report showed a 0.8% advance in sales throughout December, while economists had projected a smaller increase of only 0.5%. The jump in sales follows an even bigger increase in November in which sales surged 3.6%.

After falling below $72 a barrel last week, energy prices reversed their downward trend to start the week, as investors took heed of economic data suggesting that demand for crude in the U.S. could be improving. By the close of trading, the price for a barrel of light, sweet crude for March delivery gained $2.04 to settle at $73.93. The current contract gained $0.70 to settle at $71.89 a barrel on Monday.

At the pump, gasoline prices have receded nearly $0.06 over the past two weeks to a national average of $2.67 a gallon. Additionally, a gallon of regular unleaded gas is $0.085 cheaper than last month, yet remains $0.731 higher than the same time last year.

The Forex markets saw the Dollar trade lower versus the majority of the world’s currencies, as the 16-nation Euro advanced against the greenback, buying $1.3750, up from the previous session’s price of $1.3695. The British pound also increased versus the Dollar, as the Sterling climbed from $1.5611 late Monday to $1.5630.

The Dollar did manage to increase in value against the Japanese yen, buying 89.40, up from yesterday’s value of 89.24.

Despite a weakening Dollar, Treasury prices were lower Tuesday, as investors were uncertain as to where to place their capital. With the day’s trading complete, the benchmark 10-year note was down, falling 8/32 to 98 6/32, with a yield of 3.63%, up 0.07% from the day before.

Meanwhile, the longer maturing 30-year note was lower on the day as well, slipping 15/32 to 97 17/32, as its yield advanced to 4.52%. Lastly, the shorter maturing 2-year note was marginally lower, falling 1/32 to 100 5/32, while its yield increased 0.03% to 0.79%.

Following the first two trading days this week, the Dow Jones was collectively higher by 0.5% at 10,058.64, while the broader market indicators were in positive ground as well. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% at 1,070.52, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ increased 0.5% to finish at 2,150.87.

The remainder of the week will see a handful of economic data released that will include the Business Inventory report for December, as well as weekly results for Initial Claims and Crude Inventories.

The final three days will also include the Treasury Budget and Retail Sales readings for January, along with the Michigan Sentiment report for February.