U.S. Stocks Up In Positive Territory, Look Set To Close On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks are up in positive territory Monday afternoon, recovering well after last week's losses, as investors indulge in some bargain hunting ahead of some crucial data, including reports on consumer and producer price inflation.

The major averages are all up in positive territory, with the Nasdaq underperforming.

The Dow is up 399.62 points or 1.14 percent at 35,464.78. The S&P 500 is advancing 34.03 points or 0.76 percent at 4,512.06, while the Nasdaq is up 49.19 points or 0.35 percent at 13,958.43.

Amgen is rising nearly 4 percent. Boeing is climbing 3 percent, while United Health, J&J, Walmart, Caterpillar and IBM are gaining 1.5 to 2.1 percent.

Travelers Companies, McDonald, Visa, P&G, American Express and Coca-Cola are up 0.9 to 1.4 percent.

Berkshire Hathaway shares are up more than 3.5 percent after the company reported record quarterly operating profit.

Apple is down more than 2 percent, continued to be weighed down by the drop in revenues in the latest quarter. The company's earnings, however, beat analyst estimates. Verizon is lower by about 0.9 percent.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks ended flat to slightly lower on Monday as the dollar regained traction and Treasury yields climbed ahead of key inflation readings from China and the United States due this week.

Focus was also on earnings reports from some of the largest firms in Asia, with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, Japanese tech giants Sony Corp., SoftBank Group and Australian lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia set to unveil their financial results this week.

The major European markets ended flat on Monday after spending much of the day's session in negative territory amid concerns about the outlook for global economic growth, ahead of China's trade and inflation data, and the report on U.S. inflation.