NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were modestly higher early Tuesday as markets monitored worsening coronavirus trends around the United States and elections in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate.

Investors remain on watch for additional Covid-19 restrictions in the US after Britain on Monday announced a new national lockdown.

Stocks fell on Monday, in part due to concerns that Democratic victories in the Senate elections would give President-elect Joe Biden's Democratic party control over Congress, and boost the odds of tax hikes and other sweeping measures.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent at 30,361.30.

The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 0.5 percent to 3,718.09, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.6 percent to 12,771.52.

Among individual companies, Qualcomm rose 1.8 percent after the chipmaker announced that Steve Mollenkopf would retire as chief executive and be replaced by President Cristiano Amon.

Dow member IBM climbed 1.4 percent after it appointed former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn as vice chairman. Cohn also served as an advisor to outgoing President Donald Trump for the first year-and-a-half of his administration.