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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened marginally higher on Monday against a backdrop of unease over high energy prices that appear ever more likely to feed through into higher inflation and tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.
Trading volumes were moderate, however, depressed by the Columbus Day holiday, as well as by the awareness that the third-quarter earnings season is about to start.
By 9:45 AM ET (1345 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 58 points, or 0.2%, at 34,804 points. The S&P 500 was also up 0.2% while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3%.
JPMorgan is due to kick off earnings season on Wednesday, with analysts expecting it to grind out a rise of less than 3% in earnings per share, compared to the third quarter of 2020. But bank stocks have fared better than most, recently, as the rise in bond yields has brightened the outlook for their core lending businesses. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield had its highest close in over three months on Friday at 1.61%. JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) stock inched up 0.3% in early trading, while Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) stock gained another 0.9% and Citigroup (NYSE:C) stock rose 1.5%.
Energy names dominated the list of early gainers once again, after crude oil prices surged to a fresh seven-year high overnight. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) stock rose 0.7% while Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) stock rose 2.2%.
But the biggest gainers were Chinese companies’ American Depositary Receipts, after signs that Beijing may be relenting in its pressure on tech companies after a barrage of criticism during the summer that was widely interpreted attack on the extreme wealth accumulated by the sector’s biggest names.
