NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks rose Monday, posting small gains at the start of a week heavy on economic and earnings news.
The Nasdaq composite (up 8.79 to 1,928.76, Charts) rose close to 0.5 percent, thanks to a late-session bounce in some of its chip and software stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average (up 26.77 to 10,081.97, Charts) added nearly 0.3 percent, and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 2.25 to 1,124.39, Charts) index added around 0.2 percent.
Monday is Columbus Day, and trading volume was light with some market professionals taking a three-day weekend. Treasury bond markets are closed.
Due to the semiholiday, little corporate news and no economic news was released Monday.
"The market is up, and I guess it's just the lack of economic news and anticipation of earnings and economic news due later in the week," said Peter Cardillo, director of research at S.W. Bach & Co.
The economic calendar is empty until Thursday, when the reports start to pour in. Friday brings no less than eight reports, including consumer sentiment and monthly retail sales data.
This week also brings the first big batch of third-quarter earnings, after a few trickled in at the end of last week.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: Research, Estimates) is scheduled to report earnings before the start of trading Tuesday. The health-care and consumer products company is expected to have earned 76 cents per share, versus 69 cents a year ago.
Merrill Lynch (MER: Research, Estimates) is also due Tuesday morning. The brokerage is expected to have earned 92 cents per share, down from $1.03 a year ago.
Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) and Yahoo! (YHOO: Research, Estimates) are due to report after the close Tuesday. (For a preview of these and other earnings, click here.)
Following a spate of profit warnings from Intel and other chip names, investors will be particularly attuned to what the chip leader has to say about its future business prospects.
For the market generally, "a lot will depend on the guidance going forward," Cardillo added. "If it's mostly positive, that's one less thing for the market to worry about as it goes through the process of assessing what oil will mean for the economy."
What moved?
Micron Technology (MU: down $0.11 to $11.90, Research, Estimates) and Texas Instruments (TXN: down $0.16 to $21.89, Research, Estimates) were both able to shake off a downgrade to "sell" from Deutsche Bank and closed the session modestly lower. Deutsche had downgraded the stocks as part of a broader, bearish note on the chip sector.
The rest of the chip sector also managed to shake off the early weakness, bouncing in the afternoon. The Philadelphia Semiconductor (up 2.01 to 391.53, Charts) index, or the SOX, inched higher.
Dow component Home Depot (HD: up $1.05 to $40.07, Research, Estimates) added 2.7 percent. A Barron's article said HD shares could continue rising amid expectations for continued strong growth in home sales and home-improvement products. (For a contrary look at Home Depot from CNN/Money, click here).
Shares of Dow component Merck (MRK: up $0.40 to $30.74, Research, Estimates) rose 1.3 percent, reversing an early morning slide, after the drugmaker said it is stepping up its efforts to find a new CEO to replace its current CEO, who is retiring.
The stock has been shredded for the last few sessions, following the withdrawal of its key arthritis pain treatment, Vioxx.
Pfizer (PFE: up $0.51 to $30.31, Research, Estimates) rose nearly 2 percent, despite revising its 2004 profit outlook to a range not much different than its previous one. The drugmaker said it now expects to earn between $2.12 and $2.14 per share, versus its previous forecast of $2.13 per share.
Other Dow gainers included AIG (AIG: up $0.58 to $67.48, Research, Estimates) and Altria (MO: up $0.50 to $47.01, Research, Estimates).
Lone Star Technologies (LSS: down $8.95 to $29.25, Research, Estimates) tumbled 23.4 percent, after warning that third-quarter results would miss expectations. The maker of steel tubes for oil wells cited higher steel costs and manufacturing expenses.
Market breadth was positive and volume was very light. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers edged decliners by eight to seven on volume of 939 million shares. On the Nasdaq, winners topped losers three to two as nearly 1.17 billion shares changed hands.
Stocks sank last week as investors reacted to sky-high oil prices and weaker economic news, capped off by a disappointing September jobs report.
U.S. light crude oil for November delivery rose 33 cents to settle at $53.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a new closing high.
The dollar gained versus the euro and slipped versus the yen.
COMEX gold fell $1.10 to $423.40 an ounce.
In other news, the Senate approved a broad-ranging $136 billion corporate-tax package Monday. It now goes to President Bush for his signature.
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