US open: Slight gains on Wall Street

US stocks were trading slightly higher in early trading on Monday as investors braced for the start of the earnings season and looked out to an anxiously-awaited speech from Fed chair Janet Yellen herself on Thursday.

At 1532 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ticking higher, rising 0.01% to 21,421.76, while the S&P 500 was 0.05% higher to 2,426.26 and the Nasdaq Composite was gaining 0.04% to 6,158.30.

Stocks ended last week on an upbeat note after a solid non-farm payrolls report, which showed payrolls rose by 222,000 in June compared to an upwardly-revised 152,000 gain May, comfortably beating expectations for a 177,000 increase.

SpreadEx financial analyst Connor Campbell said: "The Dow Jones nodded off just before the bell rang on Wall Street, meaning the index started the session flat at 21400. And that was it. There’s not even anything to say really as to why the Dow didn’t do much, beyond that there was the complete absence of a catalyst for movement this afternoon."

Although there were few catalysts for traders to hand their hat on at the start of the week, Yellen's testimony before a Congressional panel was keenly awaited for up-to-date clues as to the central bank chief's thinking.

Meanwhile, oil prices were back in the black and well off their session lows. West Texas Intermediate was 0.02% higher at $44.24 per barrel on NYMEX.

Acting as a backdrop, leaders of the G-20 group of countries met in Hamburg over the weekend to discuss issues such as trade, climate change and defence.

In corporate news, electric car maker Tesla was a talking-point after its shares tanked last week and as the company's Model 3 sedan rolled off the assembly line over the weekend.

Shares of ClubCorp Holdings rocketed after Apollo Global Management offered to scoop up the owner of golf and country clubs for $1.1bn.

Going the other way, stock in Abercrombie&Fitch cratered after announcing it had called off talks aimed at a possible buy-out deal.

There wasn't much due on the data front, although the latest consumer credit data was expected at 2000 BST, with San Francisco Fed president John Williams set to take to the podium late on Monday evening after the close of trading on Wall Street.

Dow Jones - Risers

Visa Inc. (V) $94.44 0.55%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $69.84 0.55%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $107.29 0.35%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $30.97 0.23%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $87.79 0.16%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $225.62 0.15%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $44.44 0.10%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $103.41 0.09%
Boeing Co. (BA) $202.54 0.08%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $153.04 0.07%