Stocks Opened Higher ahead of Yellen Speech

U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday as investors waited for remarks from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, which could shed light on monetary policy in the wake of Friday’s dismal jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 100.74 points, or 0.57%, to 17,907.80. The S&P 500 gained 9.25 points, or 0.44%, to 2,108.38. The Nasdaq Composite was up 18.21 points, or 0.37%, to 4,960.73.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will likely keep the door open to an interest rate hike within the next few months when she speaks on Monday, while striking a balanced tone about recently disappointing jobs growth and mixed signals in the U.S. economy.

The world’s governments are stepping up to the plate to relieve monetary policymakers of some of the burden of supporting persistently slow-growth economies, according to HSBC Holdings PLC.Around the world, government spending is poised to grow by more in 2016 than any year since 2009, when fiscal authorities embarked upon a coordinated plan of boosting expenditures to deal with the damage wrought by the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is selling minority stakes in five hedge funds to Affiliated Managers Group Inc. for about $800 million. AMG will acquire holdings in Winton Capital Group Ltd., Capula Investment Management LLP, Partner Fund Management LP, Mount Lucas Management LP and CapeView Capital LLP, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Oil markets opened the week trading up on Monday, supported by global supply outages which were helping to curb physical supply. Brent gained 1.15% to reach $50.21 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate was trading up 1.13% at $49.17 a barrel.