US stocks have ended a quiet day higher as investors look ahead to important economic reports later in the week, including the monthly jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday tacked on 23.57 points (0.15 per cent) at 15,639.12.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 6.29 (0.36 per cent) to 1,767.93, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 14.55 (0.37 per cent) at 3,936.59.
Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC, characterised Monday’s economic news flow as “dead”, but said markets will likely take notice of Thursday’s report on third-quarter gross domestic product and Friday’s monthly jobs report for October.
“We’ve had a really nice run here and the market feels a little tired,” Greenhaus said.
Tech companies Groupon (+6.4 per cent) and Tesla Motors (+8.0 per cent) rose ahead of earnings reports this week.
Dow component Merck was lifted 1.1 per cent after announcing promising results in a trial for a vaccine that it said protects against the HPV virus that can lead to cervical cancer.
Another Dow component, Johnson & Johnson, dipped 0.4 per cent after it agreed to pay $US2.2 billion ($A2.34 billion) to settle allegations of fraudulently marketing drugs and paying kickbacks to promote their sales.
Smartphone company BlackBerry spent the day trading in the red after announcing a new chief executive and scuttling plans to sell the company and instead receive a $US1 billion infusion. Shares ended 16.4 per cent lower amid revived questions about the Canadian company’s prospects.
SolarCity shot up 11.4 per cent after announcing plans to offer $US54.4 million in solar asset-backed notes. A Motley Fool note characterised the announcement as marking an important new funding source for the solar industry.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury slipped to 2.60 per cent from 2.62 per cent late on Friday, while the 30-year dipped to 3.69 per cent from 3.70 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
