Investing.com - U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday after fast-food giant McDonald's reported earlier that November sales came in strong.
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policies loose nudged equities indices up as well.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.11%, the S&P 500 index was up 0.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.30%.
McDonald's reported earlier that worldwide comparable sales rose 2.4% in November, a figure that drew applause on Wall Street, as did U.S. sales, which rose 2.5%.
In Europe, comparable sales increased 1.4%.
Stocks also closed in positive territory over talk the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policy loose.
The U.S. Federal Reserve opens its last monetary policy meeting of the year on Tuesday, and market participants are expecting the U.S. central bank to either stick with current expansionary policies or possibly loosen them even further.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is currently running a third round of quantitative easing, a monetary stimulus tool that sees the U.S. central bank buy USD40 billion in mortgage-backed securities a month from banks on an open-ended basis to spur recovery.
Such policy tools send stocks rising by design to encourage investing and job creation.
The Fed is also running its so-called Operation Twist program, under which the Fed swaps USD45 billion a month in short-term Treasuries for long-termer U.S. government debt.
Unlike quantitative easing, Operation Twist does not expand the Fed's balance sheet.
Operation Twist is due to expire this month, and some market participants avoided the dollar on talk the Fed may let the program end and replace it with even more quantitative easing, which buoyed hopes stocks will see support from monetary policy until the underlying economy gains enough strength to stand on its own.
Technology companies fare particularly well.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Hewlett-Packard, up 2.55%, Cisco Systems, up 2.35%, and Microsoft, up 1.83%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included Home Depot, down 2.19%, Verizon Communications, down 0.86%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., down 0.59%.
European indices, meanwhile, finished mixed to higher.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.21%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.18%, while Germany's DAX 30 finished up 0.17%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 rose 0.12%.
Later Tuesday, the U.S. and Canada are to publish trade-balance reports.
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policies loose nudged equities indices up as well.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.11%, the S&P 500 index was up 0.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.30%.
McDonald's reported earlier that worldwide comparable sales rose 2.4% in November, a figure that drew applause on Wall Street, as did U.S. sales, which rose 2.5%.
In Europe, comparable sales increased 1.4%.
Stocks also closed in positive territory over talk the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policy loose.
The U.S. Federal Reserve opens its last monetary policy meeting of the year on Tuesday, and market participants are expecting the U.S. central bank to either stick with current expansionary policies or possibly loosen them even further.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is currently running a third round of quantitative easing, a monetary stimulus tool that sees the U.S. central bank buy USD40 billion in mortgage-backed securities a month from banks on an open-ended basis to spur recovery.
Such policy tools send stocks rising by design to encourage investing and job creation.
The Fed is also running its so-called Operation Twist program, under which the Fed swaps USD45 billion a month in short-term Treasuries for long-termer U.S. government debt.
Unlike quantitative easing, Operation Twist does not expand the Fed's balance sheet.
Operation Twist is due to expire this month, and some market participants avoided the dollar on talk the Fed may let the program end and replace it with even more quantitative easing, which buoyed hopes stocks will see support from monetary policy until the underlying economy gains enough strength to stand on its own.
Technology companies fare particularly well.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Hewlett-Packard, up 2.55%, Cisco Systems, up 2.35%, and Microsoft, up 1.83%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included Home Depot, down 2.19%, Verizon Communications, down 0.86%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., down 0.59%.
European indices, meanwhile, finished mixed to higher.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.21%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.18%, while Germany's DAX 30 finished up 0.17%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 rose 0.12%.
Later Tuesday, the U.S. and Canada are to publish trade-balance reports.