Stocks Up, Trade Worries Take Back Seat

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks climbed with other markets on Monday as worries about trade tensions between the United States and the rest of the world took a back seat.

The world's two largest economies took their biggest steps yet on Friday in a brewing global trade war after the United States and China imposed dueling tariffs on each other's goods. But a better-than-forecast U.S. jobs report on Friday and the expectation for strong earnings reports from nearly every swath of corporate America in the upcoming weeks have nevertheless helped support stocks.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 was up 15 points, or 0.6 percent, at 2,775, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. If it holds, the index would add to its 0.8 percent from Friday after a report showed that U.S. businesses are still hiring more workers than expected despite all the concerns about global trade.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 195, or 0.8 percent, to 24,651, and the Nasdaq composite rose 50, or 0.7 percent, to 7,738.

EARNINGS SEASON: Companies are lining up to tell investors how much profit they made during the spring, and expectations are high for another gangbusters quarter of growth.

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are all reporting on Friday, marking the unofficial start to reporting season. For companies across the S&P 500, analysts have forecast growth of 19 percent in earnings per share from a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

YIELDS: Yields on Treasurys rose as prices for bonds fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 2.85 percent from 2.82 percent late Friday. The two-year yield rose to 2.56 percent from 2.54 percent, and the 30-year yield pushed up to 2.96 percent from 2.93 percent.

FINANCIAL FLING: Higher interest rates can translate into bigger profits for banks by enabling them to charge higher rates for mortgages and other loans.

Financial stocks were the market's leader, and those in the S&P 500 jumped 1.3 percent for the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index.

DIVIDENDS DULLED: On the flip side, higher interest rates can lure buyers away from high-dividend stocks because they become more interested in bonds.

Utilities and real-estate investment trusts both lost ground, while telecommunications companies were the worst-performing area of the S&P 500, dropping 1.4 percent.

MARKETS ABROAD: France's CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX added 0.3 percent and the FTSE 100 climbed 0.2 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.2 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 1.3 percent and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.6 percent.

Stocks from emerging markets, which have been on a wild ride up and down this year, jumped 1.5 percent.

TRADE WAR: There were few developments over the weekend after Washington put a 25 percent tax on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports Friday and Beijing retaliated with taxes on an equal amount of U.S. products, including soybeans, pork and electric cars. The full impact of the measures may not be felt for some time, and there was little immediate reaction from investors who have known for weeks that the tariffs were due to take effect.

CURRENCIES: The dollar edged up to 110.65 Japanese yen from 110.45 yen late Friday. The euro rose to $1.1771 from $1.1745, and the British pound rose to $1.3326 from $1.3266.

COMMODITIES: Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 8 cents to $73.72 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 58 cents to $77.69 per barrel.

Gold rose $7.90 to $1,263.70 per ounce.

(BE)