Stocks Opened Higher ahead of Fed Speeches

U.S. stocks edged higher at the open on Monday, as investors waited on speeches from three Federal Reserve officials that could offer up more policy clues. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 10.85 points, or 0.07%, to 16,031.05. The S&P 500 was lup 3.48 points, or 0.19%, to
1,808.57. The Nasdaq Composite gained 15.97 points, or 0.39%, to 4,078.50.

A Congress stymied by partisan divides, blown deadlines and intraparty squabbling gets a late
chance this week to end the year with an elusive budget deal and to make headway on other fronts.

McDonald’s U.S. sales were down 0.8% in November. Global comparable sales were up 0.5%, narrowly missing expectations for 0.6%.

France’s economy is set to gather steam toward the end of 2013 and will grow by 0.5 percent on the quarter in the final three months of the year, the Bank of France said on Friday in its second of
three estimates.

China’s annual consumer inflation unexpectedly slowed in November, easing market fears of any
imminent policy tightening as authorities meet this week to outline their policy and reform
priorities for 2014. Annual consumer inflation unexpectedly slowed to 3 percent in November from an eight-month high of 3.2 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.