NEW YORK: US stocks on Monday ended a quiet day higher as investors looked ahead to some important economic reports later in the week, including the monthly jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on 23.57 points (0.15 percent) at 15,639.12.

The broad-based SandP 500 rose 6.29 points (0.36 percent) to 1,767.93, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 14.55 points (0.37 percent) at 3,936.59.

Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC, characterised Monday's economic news flow as "dead" but said markets will likely take notice of Thursday's report on third-quarter gross domestic product and Friday's monthly jobs report for October.

"We've had a really nice run here and the market feels a little tired," Greenhaus said.

Tech companies Groupon (+6.4 percent) and Tesla Motors (+8.0 percent) rose ahead of earnings reports this week.

Dow component Merck was lifted 1.1 percent after announcing promising results in a trial for a vaccine that it said protects against the HPV virus that can lead to cervical cancer.

Another Dow component, Johnson and Johnson, dipped 0.4 percent after it agreed to pay US$2.2 billion to settle allegations of fraudulently marketing drugs and paying kickbacks to promote their sales.

Smartphone company BlackBerry spent the day trading in the red after announcing a new chief executive and scuttling plans to sell the company and instead receive a US$1 billion infusion. Shares ended 16.4 percent lower amid revived questions about the Canadian company's prospects. -- AFP