NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose Monday as investors grew more hopeful that corporate earnings would continue to improve and as a weak dollar drove oil higher.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd., which makes chips used in phone networks, raised its fiscal third-quarter revenue forecast. That helped lift the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index.
RadioShack Corp.’s third-quarter sales topped expectations, giving a boost to retailers.
advertisement
The weaker dollar sent commodity prices higher, including oil, which boosted shares of energy and materials companies.
Richard Ross, global technical strategist at Auerbach Grayson in New York, said persistent weakness in the dollar and low volatility in the stocks is likely to continue lifting the market.
“You’re seeing this sort of waltz between the dollar and volatility and stocks,” he said.
In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 91.97, or 0.9 percent, to 10,064.15. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 11.37, or 1.1 percent, to 1,090.97, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 26.37, or 1.2 percent, to 2,180.84.
Three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 343.8 million shares compared with 393.3 million shares traded at the same point Friday.
The Dow fell 0.2 percent last week, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.7 percent.
Bond prices fell as stocks rose and as the government prepared to auction more than $120 billion in debt this week. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.56 percent from 3.49 percent late Friday.
The dollar fell against most other major currencies, while gold fell.
Crude oil rose 22 cents to $80.72 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Traders looked to another busy week of earnings reports. Investors will look for clues about a possible pickup in consumer spending when companies including Kellogg Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Visa Inc. report earnings.
The energy and insurance industries also will be in focus throughout the week with ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. as well as Aetna Inc. and MetLife Inc. scheduled to release quarterly results.
Among companies reporting earnings, Marvell rose 72 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $15.30, while RadioShack rose $2.05, or 13.1 percent, to $17.71.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.75, or 1.2 percent, to 608.07.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.8 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.6 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
