US Stocks Edge Higher Monday
(AP) -- Stocks edged mostly higher in morning trading on Wall Street Monday as the market comes off its first weekly loss in six weeks.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 10:18 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 77 points, or 0.2%, to 36,176 and the Nasdaq fell 0.1%.
Banks and communications stocks led the gains. Bank of America rose 1% and the parent company of Facebook gained 2.4%.
P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
A broad variety of companies that rely on direct consumer spending for goods and services also made solid gains. Dollar Tree jumped 13.4% following reports that activist investor Mantle Ridge plans to push the discount retailer to take measures to increase its stock value.
Amazon rose 0.8% and Etsy rose 2.1%.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 1.6% and weighed down energy companies. Occidental Petroleum fell 1%.
Bond yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.60% from 1.58% late Friday.
Investors will get an update on the health of the retail sector this week as several big retailers report their latest quarterly results. Home Depot and Walmart will report on Tuesday, followed by Target on Wednesday and Macy's on Thursday.
Wall Street will also get a broader view on spending trends when the Commerce Department releases its retail sales report on Tuesday.
Investors will be watching for any signs that inflation is crimping business operations or consumer spending. Businesses have had to raise prices on a variety of goods to offset higher raw materials costs and are facing a wide range of supply chain problems. Consumers have so far taken price increases in stride, but analysts are concerned that they could start to pull back on spending because of the persistently rising inflation.
Discouraging reports on inflation from the Labor Department last week tripped up the broader market and sent major indexes to their first weekly loss in six weeks.