Techs boost market

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks inched higher Monday afternoon, as falling oil prices and buoyant tech stocks drew in investors, ahead of market-moving earnings and economic news due later this week.

The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (up 13.08 to 2,402.80, Charts) added 0.5 percent with roughly 2 hours left in the session. The Dow Jones industrial average (up 30.65 to 12,139.08, Charts) and the broader S&P 500 (up 4.47 to 1,385.37, Charts) index both added around 0.3 percent.

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Stocks had been higher in the first hours of trade, but lost a little steam in the afternoon.

Monday was quiet on the news front, ahead of an active week on Wall Street.

Home Depot (down $0.35 to $36.29, Charts), Wal-Mart Stores (down $0.35 to $46.12, Charts), Target (down $0.33 to $57.61, Charts) and a host of other retailers report quarterly earnings this week.

Home Depot's report may be causing some concern for investors, as it will be seen as something of a proxy for the slowing housing market, said John Forelli, portfolio manager at Independence Investments.

Tech leaders Dell (up $0.86 to $25.75, Charts) and Hewlett-Packard (down $0.02 to $39.97, Charts) are also due to report results later in the week.

In addition, economic readings are due on retail sales, producer and consumer prices, manufacturing, housing and business inventories.

Investors are looking for further signs that the economy, though slowing, is not headed for a so-called "hard landing."

In addition, investors continue to bet that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting rates some time in the first half of next year and will be looking for this week's reports to support such beliefs.

In particular, a jump in the week's two inflation reports - the producer and consumer price indexes - might raise worries that the Fed won't be able to cut rates as soon as had been hoped. Such concerns could spark a stock selloff, particularly with the major gauges having risen so much lately.

"In the near term, the market might be a bit overvalued and at risk for some choppiness," said Forelli. "But I think the pieces are in place that the market can keep rising through the end of the year."

"The earnings have been very strong so far, and that should continue to be a support for the market," he added.

Stocks were mixed Friday at the end of an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street, as investors eyed bullish earnings, lower oil prices and news that the Democratic Party would now control Congress.

During the week, the Dow Jones industrial average hit a fresh record closing high, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit almost 6-year highs.

Among stock movers Monday, ISIS Pharmaceuticals (up $2.01 to $12.39, Charts) jumped 20 percent after two mid-stage trials showed its cholesterol-lowering drug worked well to cut LDL, or so-called "bad" cholesterol.

General Electric (up $0.31 to $35.48, Charts) and Intel (up $0.39 to $20.97, Charts) both rose after they were added to the Citigroup Recommended List.

Market breadth was mixed and volume was moderate. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers topped winners by a narrow margin on volume of 910 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers and decliners were roughly even on volume of 1.15 billion shares.

U.S. light crude oil for December delivery sank $1.04 to $58.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.61 percent from 4.59 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the yen and euro.

COMEX gold fell $4.60 to $625.50 an ounce.

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