US stocks extend gains on higher factory orders

Wall Street stocks rose Monday as news of the first rise in US factory orders in eight months helped sustain positive momentum from last week's rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 46.34 points (0.26 percent) at 18,070.40.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 6.20 (0.29 percent) to 2,114.49, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 11.54 (0.23 percent) to 5,016.93.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital, characterized the gains as "momentum buying" after the Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured goods rose 2.1 percent in March, after seven straight months of declines.

US stocks traded in positive territory all day. The advance marked the second day in a row of gains after the S&P 500 added 1.09 percent Friday.

Dow member McDonald's dropped 1.7 percent after unveiling a turnaround plan that reorganizes its international businesses and sells off more company-owned restaurants to franchisees. Analysts said a turnaround of the company's sagging sales could take as much as two years.

Cisco Systems, another Dow member, advanced 0.1 percent on news John Chambers would step down as chief executive and be replaced by Chuck Robbins, a longtime executive at the networking company. Chambers will remain chairman of the board and become executive chairman.

Dow component Disney tacked on 0.5 percent after its superhero blockbuster film "Avengers: Age of Ultron" netted a staggering $187.7 million in opening-weekend box-office sales, close to the all-time record of $207.4 million set by an earlier "Avengers" movie.

Oil and gas producer Pioneer Natural Resources fell 1.9 percent as money manager David Einhorn lambasted the company at an investor conference for spending excessively on fracking.

Time Warner Cable shares were back in play, gaining 1.2 percent under rising expectations that Charter Communications is seeking a merger. On April 24 Comcast and Time Warner gave up their merger plan on the objections of antitrust regulators. Charter shares were unchanged.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.13 percent from 2.11 percent Friday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.87 percent from 2.82 percent. Bond yields and prices move inversely.