By Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. stock market opened modestly
higher on Monday, but struggled to recoup some of the deep losses
from last week.
Indexes fell sharply last week after weak data from China and
selloffs in emerging-markets currencies triggered a global flight
from equities.
The S&P 500 (SPX) was a point higher at 1,791.08 shortly
after the opening bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
began the day 29 points, or 0.2%, higher at 15,910.32.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) gave up opening gains and was 5
points, or 0.1%, lower at 4,122.11.
Upbeat results from Caterpillar Inc. lifted the Dow. Shares of
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), seen as an economic bellwether for global
activity, rose 6.6%. The company posted fourth-quarter earnings per
share of $1.54 and a 44% profit gain, while sales fell 10%.
Caterpillar said it expects a $1.7 billion buyback in the first
quarter of this year.
New-home sales for December are the only data point for
investors. The final month of the year is expected to show a
decline in demand, mostly due to cold weather. For the year, sales
are likely to end nearly 20% higher in 2013 compared with 2012. The
data are due at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Read: How much gas in
economy's tank? Let's see
Homebuilders shrugged off rating cuts from Barclays. KB Home was
downgraded to underweight from equalweight and Toll Brothers'
rating was cut to equal weight from overweight.
Shares in KB Home (KBH) edged 0.3% higher, while Toll Brothers'
(TOL) shares rose 1.2%. The S&P 500 homebuilder sub index
rallied 1.6%.
Shares in Google Inc (GOOG) fell 0.6% after the company said it
bought artificial-intelligence company DeepMind. Samsung
Electronics Co. and Google also signed a long-term cross-licensing
deal on technology patents.
Investors will also focus on the Federal Reserve this week as
the central bank will take center stage on Wednesday. Most
observers expect the central bank to cut its bond-buying again, by
about $10 million to $65 billion a month. Expectations of Fed
tapering are among the reasons Wall Street suffered its worst
weekly performance in more than a year last week.
In other markets, European stocks were lower on Monday, while
Asia followed up those Wall Street losses with a 2.5% drop for the
Nikkei 225 Index and a 2% loss for the Hang Seng Index . Gold edged
lower and natural-gas prices(NGG14) fell.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Movers: Apple, Google in focus; Caterpillar rises on
earnings
Stock investors trash market darlings, face Apple, Fed
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