US stocks gain on earnings hopes

US stocks recovered from early losses and closed higher Monday in anticipation of earnings season, which kicks off this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 14,613.48, up 48.23 points (0.33 percent). The broad-based S&P 500 put on 9.79 (0.63 percent) to 1,563.07, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 18.39 (0.57 percent) to 3,222.25. The gains came ahead of Alcoa's first quarter earnings, released just after the market's close, and earnings reports from leading banks coming later in the week. Shares of the global aluminum giant closed 1.8 percent higher in regular trade, but then lost 0.8 percent in after-hours trading following the release, which showed the company besting last year's earnings by a wide margin but missing revenue expectations. Lufkin Industries soared 37.6 percent to $87.96 after General Electric announcing the $3.3 billion acquisition of the oilfield supplier, a cash offer of $88.50 per share. GE gained 0.8 percent. Anheuser-Busch InBev rose 1.7 percent after announcing it reached an agreement in principle with the Justice Department that will allow its acquisition of the remaining stake in Grupo Modelo to go through. The revised transaction, to fend off an anti-trust suit from the US government, would divest a brewery and other assets to Constellation Brands. Constellation gained 1.5 percent. AIG gained 3.8 percent after filing a motion to dismiss a suit from former chief executive Hank Greenberg over the impact of the US bailout of the company. News Corp. added 2.5 percent after threatening to turn its broadcast stations into a subscription service in the wake of a dispute with online service provider Aereo. Obagi Medical Products, a pharmaceutical company, dropped 5.7 percent after privately-held Merz Pharma dropped its plan to buy the company in the face of a higher offer by competing bidder Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Valeant gained 0.5 percent. Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.73 percent from 1.69 percent late Friday, while the 30-year rose to 2.90 percent from 2.86 percent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.