NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks were edging higher Monday as traders look ahead to the start of corporate earnings season. The stock market is coming off its best week of the year. Drugmaker Eli Lilly dropped after announcing that it had stopped the development of a drug to treat cardiovascular disease. EMC climbed after agreeing to be acquired by Dell.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up a fraction at 2,015 as of 12:06 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,131. The Nasdaq composite climbed 11 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,842.
BIG TECH DEAL: Data storage company EMC climbed 29 cents, or 1 percent, to $28.15 after Dell said it was acquiring the company in a deal valued at about $67 billion. Since going private in 2013, Dell has been investing in research and development and expanding its software and services business.
PULLING THE PLUG: Eli Lilly dropped after the drugmaker said it was halting development of evacetrapib, a drug that was intended to treat patients with high-risk heart disease. The stock fell $6.97, or 85 percent, to $79.17.
EARNINGS OUTLOOK: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are among the banks that will report third-quarter earnings this week. Overall, earnings are forecast to slide by 5.3 percent, compared with the same period last year, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Most of that decline is due to a big drop in energy company earnings after a slide in oil prices.
THE QUOTE: “This earnings season will be a confirmation process. ‘Yes, we have low inflation and yes, we are growing very moderately, but fairly dependably,'” said Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “It will be OK, it won’t be great, but I think we can look forward to better earnings growth in 2016.”
A GOOD WEEK: The stock market is coming off its best week of the year. Most of the gains came after the release of last week’s disappointing jobs report, which suggested the Federal Reserve would postpone a long-anticipated interest rate rise for several months. That signal was reinforced Thursday, when the minutes from the September Fed meeting showed policymakers are too concerned about low inflation and the slowdown in China to raise interest rates. Low rates can help boost stocks by reducing returns on other, fixed-income investments such as bonds.
CHINA TRADE: Forecasters expect data Tuesday to show China’s September imports contracted by as much as 15 percent from a year earlier in a new sign of weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. Exports are expected to have declined as well due to weak global demand. The slowdown has sent shockwaves through economies that supply raw materials and components to China’s vast manufacturing industry.
EUROPE’S DAY: The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.7 percent. Germany’s DAX rose 0.2 percent and France’s CAC-40 was off 0.3 percent.
ASIA’S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.3 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.2 percent. Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.1 percent and Singapore, Jakarta and Taiwan also rose. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.57 to $48.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell $1.58 to $51.34 a barrel in London.
BONDS AND CURRENCIES: The dollar declined to 120.05 yen. The euro rose to $1.1374. Bond trading was closed in the U.S. in observance of the Columbus Day holiday.
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