X U.S. stocks opened higher Monday, following the lead of European bourses, which made marked strides in afternoon trading.
Wall Street was unfazed by a weaker-than-expected durable goods report.
The Nasdaq climbed 0.6%, as the so-called FANG stocks (Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google (Alphabet (GOOGL)) showed gains of less than 1%.
The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 added 0.3%.
Facebook added 0.9% after the Wall Street Journal reported the company is interested in producing original content, following the lead of Netflix and Amazon. Facebook indicated it's willing to commit to production budgets as high as $3 million per episode.
European indexes were making solid gains, with the Paris CAC 40 leading the way, up 1.1%. Germany's DAX added 0.8% while the London's FTSE 100 picked up 0.6%.
Shares of Nestle (NSRGY) made headlines in early trading after activist investor Dan Loeb from Third Point disclosed a $3.5 billion stake in the company. Chief Executive Marc Schneider took over the CEO post at Nestle at the beginning of the year. Nestle shares opened 4% higher.
Elsewhere, Grubhub (GRUB) slumped 3% to 45.61 after Morgan Stanley downgraded shares to equal weight from overweight with a 44 price target.
Other analyst moves made headlines. Shares of Regeneron (REGN) slipped 0.7% at the open to 513.91 on a Sanford C. Bernstein downgrade to market perform from outperform with a 480 price target.
Costco (COST) added 1% after Raymond James upgraded the retailer to outperform from market perform. Institutional investors have been selling shares in recent days. Costco gapped below its 50-day moving June 16 on after Amazon announced plans to acquire Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion
Benchmark crude oil for August delivery edged up to $43.18 a barrel. The 10-year Treasury yield edged lower by 1 basis point to 2.13%.
RELATED:
3 Tech Giants Lead Your Stocks To Watch: Which Names Are Actionable?
