US open: Stocks trade higher as investors prep for earnings-heavy week

Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Monday as market participants prepped for one of the busiest weeks on the first-quarter earnings calendar.

As of 1525 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.18% at 34,105.87, while the S&P 500 was 0.30% firmer at 4,192.59 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.37% stronger at 14,068.50.

The Dow opened 62.38 points higher on Monday, extending gains recorded on Friday as major indices recovered from worries about President Joe Biden hiking the capital gains tax on the nation's richest citizens.

Corporate earnings were again firmly in focus on Monday, with Tesla set to report after the close, while many of the US' largest tech companies will report results throughout the course of the week, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google parent company Alphabet.

Boeing, Ford and Caterpillar will also post earnings before the week is out.

Investors were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, starting on Tuesday, the debut of Biden's "American Families Plan" and more inflation data.

On the macro front, new orders for manufactured durable goods increased by 5% in March to $256.3bn, according to the Census Bureau. This increase, up ten of the last eleven months, followed a 0.9% decrease in February. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.6%.

Capital goods orders rebounded less than expected in March, according to the Commerce Department, which said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft rose 0.9% last month, missing estimates for an increase of 2.2%.

Still to come, the Dallas Fed's manufacturing index for April was slated for release at 1530 BST.