NEW YORK, May 19 (UPI) -- U.S. market indexes wavered Monday on rising oil prices, and questions still unanswered about Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)

Oil prices surged to nearly $127.50, pushing prices at the pump to $3.794. A developing proxy fight to unseat Yahoo! board members and set up a purchase by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) lifted Yahoo!'s value by 2 percent recently, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Technology stocks and the Dow Jones industrial average, down at the opening, lifted slightly in midmorning trading.

The Dow Jones index was up 16.20 points, or 0.12 percent, to 13003.00. The Standard and Poor's 500 index rose 3.63 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1,428.63. The Nasdaq composite index gained 6.72 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,535.57.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 8/32 to yield 3.826 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5556 from Friday's $1.5594 and the dollar traded at 104.11 yen from Friday's 104.08 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose 50.13 points to 14,269.61, up 0.35 percent.

European Central Bank firm on lending rate

LONDON, May 19 (UPI) -- The European Central Bank will stick to its guns and not reduce interest rates soon, the head of the bank said Monday.

During a BBC interview, bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said Europe was experiencing "an ongoing, very serious market correction."

But, he also said cutting bank lending rates could trigger even more serious problems, the BBC reported.

Rising prices "will not last forever," he said, adding that fighting unemployment was the "legacy" of the 1970s.

The failure of banks to adopt tighter financial policies in the 1970s lead to higher wages, which then led to mass unemployment, Trichet said.

Ex-Soviet states weigh Russia's WTO future

GENEVA, Switzerland, May 19 (UPI) -- Russia's chances of joining the World Trade Organization remain unsettled and pivot on two ex-Soviet group members, officials said.

The newest member of the WTO is Ukraine, which officially joined Friday. But, Russia may have more trouble with new member Georgia, based on Russia's support of two breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

Although it just joined Friday, even Ukraine, "like every other WTO member, has the right to join the working group on Russia's accession," Russian chief WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said.

Last Friday, Georgian Reintegration Minister Temuri Yakobashvili said Georgia would oppose Russia's ascension until it withdrew support from the two breakaway regions.

Talks on Russia's ascension were scheduled to begin Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

Face of hunger includes U.S. working poor

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- The face of hunger in the United States is changing with many of the working poor requiring foods stamps in order to eat, program officials say.

There are 27.5 million people receiving food stamps with more than 41 percent of the aid going to working families, up from 30 percent in 1998, USA Today reported Monday.

Food stamp offices are "seeing people from various occupations that they have never seen before," Vic Todd, an administrator at Oregon's Office of Self-Sufficiency Programs, told the newspaper.

Food pantries report that demand is up more than 15 percent from a year ago and includes, "folks who get up and go to work everyday" Bill Bolling, founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank said.

"There's pride in being able to take care of yourself," said Philomena Gist, Columbus, Ohio, mortgage company employee with a master's degree, who was laid off last year and now receives food stamps.

"I'm not supposed to be in this condition," she told USA Today.