US stocks higher at start of heavy earnings week

View of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at Wall Street on November 16, 2020 in New York City. Angela Weiss / AFP

(AFP) — Wall Street stocks climbed early Monday at the start of a heavy week for economic news that includes a Federal Reserve decision and major earnings reports.

US orders for big-ticket manufactured goods grew in March but far less than expected due to canceled aircraft purchases, according to government data.

The report comes ahead of data later in the week on consumer confidence and personal income and spending.

The Fed is expected to maintain its easy-money policies at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Wednesday — after repeated pledges to hold the line until the economy recovers and inflation reappears.

This week’s earnings calendar includes reports from large industrial companies including Boeing and ExxonMobil, as well as from tech giants like Amazon and Facebook.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 34,124.37.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 4,189.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 percent to 14,052.31.

Among individual companies, Apple was flat after announcing it will boost its investment plans in the United States to $430 billion over the next five years — more than 20 percent higher than the previous plan.

The updated plan includes more than $1 billion for a new campus and engineering hub in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.