Stocks rose, albeit slightly, on Monday, as major companies across the United States are starting to report first-quarter results.
Aluminum company Alcoa will be the first member of the Dow Jones to report earnings, after markets close on Monday. The company was up 6 cents at $8.30, an hour before the closing bell. But one analyst is saying to not use Alcoa as a “crystal ball” for the rest of American companies.
In other areas, Coca-Cola and Disney are going strong, up almost one percent each.
Johnson & Johnson is deemed as perhaps growing too fast early this year (16 percent), declining $1.18 to $80.96, the biggest decline of the Dow Jones industrial average.
Overall, the Dow was up six points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,571, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose five points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,558.
Investors may believe that actual earning growth will be more than people expect, “as they have done repeatedly since this bull market started,” said S&P chief equity strategist Sam Stovall.
Investors will study the reports to try to predict what will happen for the rest of the year.
“That'll be a critical piece for the markets to digest,” said Cam Albright, a director of asset allocation at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors.
The reports come after stocks fell Friday, after a slowdown in hiring reported by the government.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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