Stocks Opened Slightly Higher, Morgan Stanley Beat Estimates

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Monday, supported by upbeat earnings reports, such as Morgan Stanley. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately was up 0.13 points, to 18,086.58. The S&P 500 added 0.21 points, or 0.01%, to 2,126.85. The Nasdaq Composite gained 10.59 points, or 0.20%, to 5,220.73.

Morgan Stanley reported profit that beat analysts’ estimates as a jump in trading and brokerage fees led to the biggest revenue increase among the six largest U.S. banks. Second-quarter net income fell 4.8 percent to $1.81 billion, or 85 cents a share, from $1.9 billion, or 92 cents, a year earlier.

Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s biggest defense contractor, is about to get even bigger after buying helicopter maker Sikorsky from United Technologies Corp. in a deal worth 7.1 billion after “taking into account tax benefits resulting from the transaction.”

SunEdison, a renewable energy company, said on Monday that it and its publicly traded power plant unit, TerraForm Power, would acquire Vivint Solar for about $2.2 billion in cash and securities.

Gold prices plunged as much as 4 percent to their lowest in more than five years on Monday. Spot gold fell $45.55 to its weakest since March 2010 at $1,088.05 an ounce.

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