NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were expected to open higher Monday, the start of a week that will see the first of the fourth-quarter corporate results reports.
Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq-100 and S&P-500 futures were higher. Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.
Philip Isherwood, equities strategist at Evolution Securities in London, said traders were ignoring last week's negative payroll report and were reacting, in part, to positive data from China about the strength of its import-export economy. Also, investors have positive expectations about the fourth-quarter corporate reports, which kick off later Monday with Alcoa.
"You'd expect to have a reasonable number out of them," he said, in reference to the corporate reports. "You'd obviously want to have a bit more revenue than cost cutting in that mix."
Stocks gained slightly Friday, propelled by a tech rally, as investors shrugged off a surprisingly weak jobs report amid other recent signs that the economy appears to be stabilizing.
Companies: Investors will be waiting for Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), the first of the Dow components to report fourth-quarter figures, after the market close. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the aluminum maker to report a profit of 6 cents a shares, compared to a loss of 28 cents a share in the final quarter of 2008.
Later this week, Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) post quarterly figures.
Earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to have jumped 213% in the fourth quarter of 2009, thanks to easy comparisons to the year-earlier period, the worst quarter in the history of earnings tracker Thomson Reuters.
World markets: Stocks in Asia closed higher, with Tokyo's Nikkei finishing up 1.1%. European indexes were higher in midday trading.
Money and oil: The dollar fell versus all major international currencies.
Crude oil for February delivery surged $1.09 to $83.84 a barrel.
Gold for February delivery gained $19.60 to $1,158.50. 
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.88% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 3.20% | 3.23% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 3.84% | 3.88% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.82% | 3.93% | |
| 15 yr refi | 3.20% | 3.23% |
Today's featured rates:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 32,627.97 | -234.33 | -0.71% |
| Nasdaq | 13,215.24 | 99.07 | 0.76% |
| S&P 500 | 3,913.10 | -2.36 | -0.06% |
| Treasuries | 1.73 | 0.00 | 0.12% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Motor Co | 8.29 | 0.05 | 0.61% |
| Advanced Micro Devic... | 54.59 | 0.70 | 1.30% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 47.49 | -2.44 | -4.89% |
| General Electric Co | 13.00 | -0.16 | -1.22% |
| Kraft Heinz Co | 27.84 | -2.20 | -7.32% |
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