Bulls charge out of the gate

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks got off to sharply higher start Monday, helped by strong earnings from embattled automaker General Motors and a tame reading on inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 84.05 to 13,442.36, Charts) climbed 0.7 percent in early trading, up by as much as 114 points.

The broader S&P 500 (up 10.66 to 1,484.57, Charts) rose 0.7 percent while the tech-fueled Nasdaq Composite index (up 20.01 to 2,603.29, Charts) gained 0.6 percent.

Better-than expected earnings from embattled automaker General Motors and from Sun Microsystems helped lift stocks at the start of the session.

Dow component GM (up $1.82 to $34.43, Charts, Fortune 500) sped past forecasts, posting its first profitable quarter in over two years, sending its shares 3.5 percent higher.

Sun Microsystems, which produces computer servers, reported better-than expected earnings and sales that were in line with projections after the closing bell Monday. Sun (up $0.43 to $5.32, Charts, Fortune 500) shares climbed 7 percent in morning trade.

Wall Street, which has been rattled by credit market concerns recently, received some relatively benign number from the economic front Tuesday.

In the June personal spending and income report, the so-called core PCE deflator, a favored inflation gauge of the Federal Reserve, came in lower than expected and within the central bank's comfort range.

Wall Street will have plenty of other economic readings to digest including the Conference Board's July reading on consumer confidence and the government's June report on construction spending, both of which were due out at 10 a.m. ET.

Wall Street suffered its worst week in more than four years last week as credit concerns coursed through the market. Those fears subsided Monday as stocks rebounded, but investors remain nervous about the outlook for stocks.

In major U.S. corporate news, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (up $0.00 to $22.84, Charts, Fortune 500) is close to winning Dow Jones (up $5.54 to $57.10, Charts), but last-minute negotiations over fees are holding up the deal, according to published reports.

Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz said Monday that his restaurant company, Triarc (up $0.00 to $14.38, Charts), would be prepared to offer $37 to $41 a share for struggling rival Wendy's International (up $2.84 to $36.53, Charts), a premium of 10 to 22 percent over its Monday closing price. But he gave the company until Wednesday to agree to a confidentiality agreement for talks to continue.

Shares of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (up $1.66 to $51.09, Charts) gained 3 percent in morning trade after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended that Glaxo's best-selling diabetes drug, Avandia, remain on the market despite an analysis showing links to increased risk of heart attack.

Oil prices climbed Tuesday and remained in sight of its record high of $78.40 hit a year ago, as the price of U.S. light crude gained 32 cents to $77.15 a barrel.

Treasury prices edged lower, leaving the 10-year note at 4.81 percent up from 4.8 percent late Monday. The dollar was lower versus the euro but higher against the yen.

In global trade, most Asian markets finished the session higher. European stocks moved sharply higher.