By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks rose on Monday,
positioning the S&P 500 for another record close, as Wall
Street considered earnings from corporations including Dow member
McDonald's Corp.
"I'm still in a neutral mode for the week. We should have a
sideways week, but every time I thought that, we've gone slightly
higher," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading
and derivatives at Charles Schwab.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 23.60 points, or
0.2%, to 15,567.34, with American Express Co. (AXP) pacing its
gains among 17 of its 30 components. If it closes above 15,548.54,
it also would set a record.
Fast-food chain McDonald's (MCD) led blue-chip declines, with
its shares off 2.8% after the release of its second-quarter
results. The company said its "results for the remainder of the
year are expected to remain challenged."
McDonald's is "a big component of the market because it's a very
big company; it's the only real drag on the Dow today," said
Frederick, who noted that International Business Machines Corp.'s
(IBM) rebound from its slide last week was helping to neutralize
McDonald's impact.
The S&P 500 index (SPX) added 4.03 points, or 0.2%, to
1,696.12, with materials and financials pacing gains and consumer
discretionary leading sector losses. It closed at a record on
Friday. The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) rose 10.07 points, or 0.3%, to
3,597.68.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) shares fell 4.3% on news that Dan Loeb of
Third Point is stepping down from the board and unwinding a part of
the hedge fund's stake in the search engine. (Read more on Monday
movers:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mondays-movers-himax-technologies-newmont-2013-07-22.)
Advancers outpaced decliners on the New York Stock Exchange,
where 203 million shares traded as of 11:55 a.m. Eastern time.
Composite volume surpassed 1.1 billion.
Monday's economic reports had existing-home sales falling 1.2%
to 5.08 million in June. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected
sales to have risen 1.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted rate
of 5.28 million.
"Despite the decline, this is still one of the strongest gains
seen during the recovery," noted Dan Greenhaus, chief global
strategist at BTIG LLC, in emailed commentary.
Stock-index futures on Monday offered little reaction to the
Chicago Federal Reserve's national activity index, which rose to
negative 0.13 in June from negative 0.29 in May.
The price of crude (CLU3) fell 52 cents to $107.35 a barrel on
the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The price of gold (GCQ3) jumped 2.9% to $1,329.6 an ounce on the
Comex, setting up the metal for its first close above $1,300 in
almost five weeks.
The S&P 500 on Friday capped a fourth week of gains to close
at an all-time high.
"With the first major week of earnings behind us, a few things
are quite clear. First, earnings are not coming in as badly as
feared," said Greenhaus of results from roughly 100 S&P 500
companies.
Dominated by financials, last week's earnings reports were
"almost all better than expected," and as a result, "overall
expected earnings growth for the S&P saw its first move higher
in some time," Greenhaus added.
On Monday, Halliburton Co. (HAL) reported a drop in quarterly
profit, with shares of the oilfield-services company off 1.2%.
Hasbro Inc. (HAS)reported second-quarter results below
expectations, hit by a sharp decline in the sale of toys for boys.
Last week, competitor Mattel Inc. (MAT) reported a drop in
second-quarter net income, which was dented by weakness in Barbie
sales.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) will report earnings after the close on
Monday.
On Tuesday, earnings from Apple Inc. (AAPL) are expected to
throw some light on consumer-spending habits as its sales are
driven by discretionary purchases. A lackluster earnings report
from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) last week sent the shares tumbling 11%
on Friday, but they climbed 1.2% on Monday.
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