Wall St. shines at open

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks got a power surge at the start of trading Monday on IBM's earnings surprise.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite index gained 1.4 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was 0.9 percent higher.

IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), which announced its earnings ahead of schedule, said it expects to post profit of $2.80 a share, versus estimates for earnings of $2.60 a share, according to Thomson First Call.

Embattled bank Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) is expected to to take a giant writedown when it reports results Tuesday. Plans by Citigroup to raise capital by selling a $2 billion stake to China Development Bank also faced opposition from Chinese government officials over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported, but it is not clear if the deal has been derailed altogether.

Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500), which is also expected to take a big writedown, is seeking to raise about $4 billion in capital from the Kuwait Investment Authority and European investors, The Financial Times reported.

Merrill is also facing a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation over improper trading by a handful of current and former employees, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Among stocks to watch, Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD, Fortune 500) warned that same-store sales at its Kmart and Sears stores fell 3.5 percent during the 9-week period ending Jan. 5. The company also said it expects its quarterly results to fall short of analysts' estimates. Sears shares fell 12 percent in pre-market trading on the news.

Automakers are in the news as the Detroit Auto Show, America's biggest car show, gets underway. The show kicked off over the weekend, with automakers like Ford (F, Fortune 500) and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) unveiling some of their newest vehicle models.

Gold prices reached an all-time high above $900 an ounce Monday, lifted by expectations of more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and weakness in the dollar.

Oil prices edged higher on heightened tension in the Middle East offsetting fears that U.S. demand for crude will weaken as the U.S. economy faces the threat of a recession. Light, sweet crude for February gained 8 cents to $92.77 a barrel.

In global trade, Asian markets tumbled. Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday. European stocks moved higher in early afternoon trading.