U.S. Stocks Off to a Positive Start
Updated from 9:30 a.m. EDT
U.S. stocks opened higher Monday on reports of continued international support for the financial system and additional thawing in credit markets. Traders were also looking at a heap of quarterly corporate earnings statements.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 106 points at 8958, and the
S&P 500
added 9 points to 950. The
Nasdaq
climbed 20 points to 1732.
Over the weekend, President Bush announced plans to convene global leaders to continue to work on solutions to the credit crunch, according to a report by
The Wall Street Journal
.
The crisis continued to send shocks throughout the global financial system. On Sunday, the Dutch government said it would buy a $13.4 billion stake in
(ING) - Get Report
to shore up the company's balance sheet, the
Associated Press
reported.
Credit markets appeared to continue to relax, as three-month dollar labor dropped 36 basis points to 4.06%, while the overnight rate declined 16 basis points to 1.51%.
Rates nonetheless remained elevated, causing wrinkles in other companies' plans. The
Journal
reported that
General Motors'
(GM) - Get Report
was having trouble getting funding for a purchase of fellow automaker
Chrysler
.
Looking at corporate earnings,
Ericsson
(ERIC) - Get Report
announced a 28% decline in third-quarter earnings but beat analyst estimates.
Oil-services firm
(HAL) - Get Report
swung to a $21 million loss related to a cash settlement of convertible debt. Its income, however, reached a company record of $1 billion.
Swiss pharmaceutical company
Novartis
(NVS) - Get Report
said its profit climbed 12% year over year on rising sales.
The
Journal
also reported that Internet portal
(YHOO)
would probably announce layoffs, perhaps as early as Tuesday's earnings report.
Merrill Lynch
( MER) also had bad news. CEO John Thain said he foresaw job cuts numbering in the thousands for the brokerage, which is slated to be bought by
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
Meanwhile, utility services firm
Exelon
(EXC) - Get Report
offered to
(NRG) - Get Report
for $6.2 billion in an all-stock deal.
In analyst actions, Goldman Sachs downgraded
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
to neutral from buy, predicting a decline in profit margins.
Shifting to economic data, traders will be looking at the Conference Board's leading indicators for September.
As for commodities, crude oil was climbing $2.05 to $73.90 a barrel. Gold was adding $5.80 to $793.50 an ounce.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were mixed. The 10-year was up 2/32 to yield 3.93%, and the 30-year was shedding 6/32, yielding 4.33%. The dollar was stronger vs. the euro and pound but softening against the yen.
Abroad, European exchanges including the FTSE in London and the Dax in Frankfurt were trading higher. In
, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed with gains.
