U.S. tocks rise before top-level meeting over fiscal impasse

By Julia Edwards

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, rebounding from losses, as plans for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to meet congressional leaders raised hopes a resolution to the fiscal impasse was closer.

Obama and Biden were due to meet at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, the White House said.

Stocks had dipped after weekend talks failed to reach a solution that would reopen the federal government and raise the $16.7 trillion federal borrowing limit by October 17. Failure to raise the debt ceiling could leave the world's biggest economy unable to pay its bills in the coming weeks.

 

"They are looking for a big agreement sooner rather than later," said Stephen Carl, principal and head equity trader at The Williams Capital Group in New York.

"Everything is kind of 'to-be-determined.'"

Netflix Inc shares rose 5.5 percent at $317.38 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is in talks with several U.S. cable television companies, including Comcast Corp and Suddenlink Communications, to make its streaming video service available through their set-top boxes.

Trading volume was low at 1.69 billion shares because of the Columbus Day holiday, with banks and the U.S. bond market closed.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.4 points or 0.14 percent, to 15,258.51, the S&P 500 gained 1.84 points or 0.11 percent, to 1,705.04 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.083 points or 0.29 percent, to 3,802.956.

The government shutdown, entering its third week, was seen as a drag on the economy by shaving a small percentage off the GDP with each passing day.

Shares of washing machine manufacturer Whirlpool were down 5.6 to $132.50. A note from Cleveland Research pointed to softening demand for appliances.

Expedia Inc shares were off nearly 7 percent at $48.12 after a rating cut by Deutsche Bank AG.

Major companies will resume reporting third-quarter earnings. On Tuesday, earnings are expected from Citigroup Inc , Coca-Cola Co , Johnson & Johnson , and Intel Corp .

(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Kenneth Barry)