Stocks rallied early Monday, in a broad-based advance, as investors used last week's selloff as an opportunity to jump back into the market at a modestly lower level.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 92 points, or 0.9%, in the morning, after having gained as much as 100 points earlier. The S&P 500 (SPX) index rose 11 points, or 1%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 27 points, or 1.3%.
Investors appeared ready to get back in the market after a recent retreat. U.S. stocks ended last week lower, breaking a two-week run. Stocks ended lower Friday as the market couldn't sustain early gains driven by upbeat results from Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500), and a big rise in existing home sales.
"Maybe the feeling is that it was a bit overdone on Friday," said Philip Isherwood, equities strategist at Evolution Securities.
Given the lack of economic indicators on Monday, he said there was little reason to propel stocks upward, except as a reaction to the over-zealous sell-off at the end of last week.
Quarterly results: Dow component Verizon said profit tumbled 30% as higher costs countered an increase in revenue thanks to its strong wireless business. Nonetheless, earnings topped expectations. The company also reported higher quarterly revenue.
Just shy of 140 components of the S&P 500 are due to report quarterly results this week. With more than 40% of the S&P 500 having already reported, profits are currently on track to have fallen just over 18% from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters.
So far, results have been soundly above forecasts, with 81% of companies topping expectations, 7% meeting and 12% missing.
Company news: Capmark Financial, one of the country's largest commercial real estate lenders, filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday, reflecting the major problems in the business property sector.
Dutch financial services firm ING (ING) said Monday it plans to spin off its insurance business and sell $11.3 billion of stock to pay back the government some of what it took in bailout money last year.
World markets: Global markets were mixed. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 gained 0.7%, France's CAC 40 lost 0.3% and Germany's DAX gave up 0.4%. Asian markets ended higher.
Bonds: Treasury prices tumbled, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.48% from 3.42% late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Currency and commodities: The dollar gained versus the euro, after falling to a 14-month low earlier in the week. The dollar gained versus the yen.
U.S. light crude oil for December delivery rose 50 cents to $81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, near a one-year high.
COMEX gold for December delivery rose $1.50 to $1,057.90 an ounce. Gold has surpassed records repeatedly this month due to the weak dollar and longer-term worries about inflation.
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