North American stocks rose at the start of trading on Monday, boosted by a revised outlook from FedEx Corp. and a stronger-than-expected reading on new U.S. home sales in June.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58 points or 0.6 per cent, to 10,482. The broader S&P 500 rose 6 points or 0.6 per cent, to 1109. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 16 points or 0.1 per cent, to 11,730.
FedEx, a bellwether for economic activity because it is a global shipper, raised its outlook for the current quarter and the rest of the year, saying that shipping volumes have been higher than expected. It now sees quarterly earnings between $1.05 to $1.25 a share, up 20 cents from its previous guidance. The shares rose 4.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, U.S. new home sales in June jumped 23.6 per cent over the previous month. Despite the strong gains, observers were quick to point out that the previous month was exceptionally dismal for sales, and year-over-year sales are down 16.7 per cent.
In other stock moves, Alcoa Inc. and Home Depot Inc. rose 1.6 per cent each, while Boeing Co. rose 1.5 per cent.
Among Canadian movers, gold stocks were weak, with Barrick Gold Corp. and Goldcorp Inc. down 1.3 per cent each. Bank of Montreal rose 1.4 per cent, but Research In Motion Ltd. fell 1.4 per cent.