US stocks gain on optimism over 1Q earnings

NEW YORK: Wall Street rose solidly Monday on confidence over first-quarter earnings, which investors hope will shift focus away from worries over trade policy, interest rates and geopolitical turmoil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.9 percent at 24,573.04.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent to 2,677.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 7,158.28.

Companies in the S&P 500 are expected to report an average 17.3 percent increase on profits compared with the year-ago period thanks to a strengthening US economy and the boost from tax cuts, according to FactSet.

"If investors have a chance to focus on profits, then the stock market should do fine," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors.

"It's only when they focus on headlines and tweets and other things that there are problems."

This week's earnings calendar includes Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Netflix and Procter & Gamble.

US stocks also picked up momentum from relief that weekend strikes by Britain, France and the United States on Syria did not spur major retaliation from Syria's allies Iran and Russia and from better-than-expected US retail sales data.

Bank of America climbed 0.5 percent after reporting Monday its 34.2 percent jump in first-quarter profits to $6.5 billion behind a strong performance in key businesses thanks in part to a lift from higher interest rates.

Dow member Merck shot up 2.6 percent after reporting successful clinical results for its Keytruda treatment for lung cancer.

Pharmacy stocks Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS Health won 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent respectively following a report on CNBC that Amazon was abandoning a plan to sell drugs to hospital.

Starbucks rose 0.3 percent following an apology to two black men who were arrested in a cafe in a move widely seen as evidence of racial bias.

In a statement, CEO Kevin Johnson expressed the company's "deepest apologies" to the men for what he said was the "reprehensible outcome" of the incident.