Investing.com - Wall Street opened higher on Monday as investors prepped for the last big earnings week in the first quarter reporting season and markets prepared to shift attention to the Federal Reserve’s next move in June.
At 9:34AM ET (13:34GMT), the Dow Jones gained 105 points, or 0.43%, the S&P 500 rose 10 points, or 0.36%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 39 points, or 0.57%.
With more than 400 of the S&P 500 companies having already reported earnings, Monday started off the last major wave of reports.
Shares in Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) slumped more than 2% after the beef and poultry producers missed on both the top and bottom line.
Sysco (NYSE:SYY) also saw shares retreat around 0.6% despite better-than-expected earnings while revenue came out in line with forecasts.
To the upside, PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) jumped nearly 6% after reporting a 36% increase in fiscal fourth quarter profit.
Hertz Global (NYSE:HTZ), Cognizant Technology (NASDAQ:CTSH) and AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) are on tap to report Monday after the market close.
In other business news, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) will be paid $7.15 billion by Nestlé (SIX:NESN) for the rights to sell its coffee products internationally.
Elliott Management is preparing an all-cash deal for Athenahealth (NASDAQ:ATHN), with a bid of between $155 and $160 a share, according to sources cited by CNBC.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Gramercy Property Trust (NYSE:GPT) in a $7.6 billion deal.
In a session with no major economic reports scheduled, traders looked ahead to several appearances by Fed officials on Monday to gauge the future path of monetary policy.
Richmond Fed president Tom Barkin will deliver a speech at George Mason University in Virgina, while several other policymakers will participate in the Atlanta Fed’s 23rd Annual Financial Markets Conference.
Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, the head of the Dallas Fed Robert Kaplan and Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker will all participate in the event held on Monday.
The string of speakers will come ahead of remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will appear at a conference hosted jointly by the Swiss National Bank and International Monetary Fund, in Zurich on Tuesday. He is due to deliver a speech titled "Monetary Policy Influences on Global Financial Conditions and International Capital Flows".
Markets currently expect the next rate hike to arrive in June, with a follow-up in September. Odds for a fourth increase in 2018 at the end of the year remained at around 42% at the time of writing.