Stocks are indicated modestly higher on a relatively slow news day Monday. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures hint at modest early gains for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ.

Trading is mixed overseas before the opening bell on Wall Street. While Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped .6 percent, a .7 percent gain in Germany’s DAX is pacing a modest advance across Europe.

In the US, the economic calendar is light this week until jobless claims and retail sales numbers Thursday.

With little to guide the early action, bonds are lifeless in quiet trading Monday morning. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down 2/32nd and now yields 3.57 percent.

The dollar edged down .11 to 89.39 against the Japanese yen. The euro gained .0006 to 1.3670 an ounce.

Crude oil is flat near $71.25 a barrel, but gold jumped $14 to $1067 an ounce.

Among the stocks to watch, Hasbro (HAS) and CVS are trading up on earnings news. Some of the fertilizer names, including Potash (POT) and Mosaic (MOS), are seeing early strength. Motorola (MOT) is trading up after being mentioned positively in Barron’s. Home Depot (HD) might help the Dow early after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight.

Note: we had a little Internet issue this morning, which has been resolved. Sorry for any inconvenience this caused.