Stock market today: Indexes extend gains ahead of big week for earnings and the economy

• US stocks edged higher on Monday, extending solid gains from last week.
• Investors are preparing for the busiest week of earnings, with Amazon and Apple set to report.
• On the economic front, investors will be paying attention to the Fed meeting and jobs report.

It's a big week ahead for the stock market, and so far investors are heading into it feeling upbeat as equity indexes extended their gains from last week in early Monday trades.

This is one of the busiest weeks of earnings releases for the quarter, with about one-third of S&P 500 companies reporting their first-quarter results. That equates to just over 170 earnings reports scheduled to be released between now and Friday.

"As valuations are trading near the upper end of their 20-year range, earnings will need to be the catalyst to
drive the market higher from current levels," Raymond James CIO Larry Adam said in a recent note.

The biggest earnings reports that will be closely watched by investors include Amazon's results on Tuesday and Apple's report on Thursday, both of which will be released after the market close.

On the economic front, investors will be paying close attention to the Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting on Wednesday. While the Fed is expected to keep interest rates unchanged, investors will be looking for clues from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell when he takes the podium Wednesday afternoon to give his speech on the outlook of the economy and what the Fed might do in the coming months.

Finally, investors will keep their eye on the April jobs report, which is set to be released on Friday. Economists expect 250,000 jobs to have been added to the economy in April, down from the big March figure of 303,000 jobs adds.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Monday:

• S&P 500: 5,122.16, up 0.44%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 38,360.46, up 0.32% (+120.80 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 16,012.50, up 0.53%

Here's what else is going on today:

• Tesla stock soared more than 10% on Monday after Elon Musk visited China and reportedly struck a deal to roll out Tesla's autonomous driving technology in China.
• Florida and Texas are seeing a decline in home prices because of too much supply and not enough demand, according to Redfin.
• There's still the potential for the US economy to enter a dreaded period of stagflation, according to two economists.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 0.66% to $83.30 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 0.70% to $88.87 a barrel.
• Gold edged lower by 0.09% to $2,345.10 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield fell 2 basis points to 4.64%.
• Bitcoin edged lower by 0.84% to $62,578.