U.S. stocks open modestly higher ahead of data on leading economic indicators

U.S. stocks opened modestly higher Monday as investors await fresh economic data due out later this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.76%
was up 0.1% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+1.19%
edged up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+2.01%
rose 0.2%, according to FactSet data, at last check. A reading on leading economic indicators is scheduled to be released at 10.am. Eastern time. Stocks ended sharply higher on Friday, but the Dow and S&P 500 still booked weekly losses while the Nasdaq notched a third straight week of gains.