U.S. stocks tick higher ahead of a week full of economic updates

Wall Street is rising at the start of a week full of economic reports that could drive where interest rates, and thus stock prices, go.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent in early trading Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 150 points, or 0.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4 per cent.

Stocks that got swept up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology held a bit steadier following some big drops last week. Nvidia rose 1.5 per cent.

The government releases its delayed jobs report for November on Tuesday, and consumer inflation data comes out on Thursday.

European indexes were higher and Asian markets closed mostly lower.

Germany’s DAX gained 0.3 per cent to 24,254.58 and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.8 per cent to 8,131.56. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.6 per cent to 9,711,10.

The futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.4 per cent higher.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index shed 1.3 per cent to 50,168.11 after a quarterly “tankan” survey of big manufacturers by the central bank showed a slight improvement in sentiment among such businesses. The measure of those expressing optimism rose to 15 from 14 in the last quarter, the highest level in four years, the central bank said.

The index shows the percentage of companies reporting positive conditions minus the percentage reporting unfavorable ones.

Analysts said the trade agreement with Washington that took U.S. tariffs on Japanese exports to 15 per cent instead of the 25 per cent U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier threatened has relieved uncertainty and improved the outlook for automakers and other exporters.