US equity markets shook off a mixed opening to the first session of the week to push higher in the final hour of trading and settle with modest gains ahead of the first quarter earnings season shifting fully into gear this week - Dow rose +101-points or +0.30%, The broader S&P500 added +0.33%, with Real Estate (up +2.23%) and Financials (+1.04%) leading eight of the eleven primary sectors higher. Communication Services and Energy were the worst performing primary sectors overnight, both declining -1.27%. The Nasdaq +0.28%. Google parent Alphabet Inc fell -2.66% after The New York Times reported that Samsung is weighing making Bing its default search engine. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rallied +1.22%.
