Stocks close higher as S&P extends rally to 5 days
NEW YORK -- Stocks closed higher Monday as traders got back to business after the Easter weekend, adding to last week's gains when the market had its best week since July 2013 amid a slew of corporate earnings reports.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index notched its fifth straight day of gains.
The S&P 500 rose 7.04 points, or 0.4%, to 1,871.89. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 40.71 points, or 0.3%, to 16,449.25 and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 26.03 points, or 0.6%, to 4,121.55.
It's a big week for earnings, with 155, or 31%, of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting first-quarter earnings, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Following this morning's profit reports, 62% of the 87 companies in the index that have reported earnings topped expectations, a tad below the long-term average of 63%. But earnings growth looks subdued, with growth of just 0.8% vs. a year ago expected.
"So far the earnings season has been a little disappointing, but not weak enough to change the consensus view of a slow upward trend in profits in 2014 and 2015," David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds told clients in his week ahead market note.
The early earnings results Monday were strong. Oil services giant Halliburton topped Wall Street profit expectations by 2 cents and also posted better-than-expected revenue, pushing the stock up 3.3% to $62.92.
Similarly, toy-maker Hasbro topped forecasts by 4 cents a share, pushing its shares up 1.9% to $55.66. Kimberly Clark beat by a penny but revenue came in a tad shy, driving shares of the maker of Huggies diapers down 1.4% to $110.94. SunTrust Banks beat on both earnings and revenue, pushing shares up 1.5% to $38.51.
After the bell, Netflix reported a net profit of $53 million, or 86 cents per share, beating analysts' estimates of 83 cents a share. Shares jumped 6% in after-hours trading.
Investors also were digesting a better-than-expected reading on "leading economic indicators," which rose 0.8% in March, topping economists' expectations of 0.7%. That came after a 0.5% rise in February and modest 0.2% gain in January. It was the best showing since a 0.9% gain in November, the Conference Board said.
Investors are also awaiting other economic reports this week. Existing home sales numbers will be out on Tuesday, followed by new home sales figures on Wednesday.
The broad U.S. stock market is coming off its best week since July 2013, according to Wilshire Associates, citing a 2.64% gain for the broad Wilshire 5000 stock index. Last week's gains resulted in paper gains of $600 billion, according to Wilshire.
There was no trading on Wall Street Friday, as markets were closed for Good Friday. On Thursday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.54 points, or 0.1% to 1,864.85 and the Nasdaq composite index gained 9.29 points, or 0.2% to 4,095.52. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16.31 points, or 0.1%, to 16,408.54, dragged lower by IBM's disappointing earnings report.
European markets closed higher. Britain's FTSE rose 0.6% to 6,625.25 and France's CAC 40 gained 0.6% to 4,431.81. Germany's DAX rose 1% to 9,409.71.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index was little changed, losing 3.89 points to close at 14.512.38 after Japan posted a record annual trade deficit in 2013. The Shanghai composite lost 31.92 points, or 1.5%, to 2,065.83.
Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong markets were closed in observance of the Easter holiday.
Contributing: The Associated Press.