Stock Markets Modesty Up Ahead Of A Slew Of Earnings Reports

The U.S. stock markets rose modestly Monday, kicking off a week investors await a slew of earnings reports following a week of good old fashion bargain buying.

As traders picked up beaten down stocks from two weeks ago, the broad S&P 500 increased by 2.7 percent last week in what was its best performance since last summer. The move came as traders snatched up equities that were beaten down in the prior week.

As of 2:52 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 43.2 points, or 0.19%, to 16451, the S&P 500 rose 5.90 points, or 0.05 percent to 1870 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 21.90 points, or 0.41 percent to 4117.

More than 30 companies in the Nasdaq are scheduled to release earnings reports, while fewer than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies have already reported earnings. According to Thomson Reuters, 62 percent have beat Wall Street’s expectations, compared with the 66 percent average over the past four quarters. However, around 52 percent have exceeded revenue forecasts, which is closer to the 54 percent average over the past four quarters.

Traders were focusing on a report from Japan, that showed the trade deficit in the world’s third-biggest economy swelling to 1.7 trillion yen on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which was far more than the 1.4 trillion measurement economists forecasted. According to Japan-based investment bank Nomura, the deficits was driven by a larger-than-expected increase in imports along with a smaller-than-expected increase in exports.

Dozens of S&P components will report this week, including closely watched companies like Apple Inc, Biogen Idec and Facebook Inc . Also, a number of Dow components will be closely watched as they report, including McDonald’s Corp, AT&T Inc, as well as the two giants of industry, Procter & Gamble and Caterpillar Inc.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil fell 12 cents, or 0.12 percent to $104.17 a barrel, while Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline fell 0.39 percent, down to $3.04 a gallon. Gold ticked down $9.10, or 0.7 percent to $1,285 a troy ounce.