• US stocks edged higher in early Monday trades after seven straight weeks of losses.
  • Monday's rally in stocks comes as both interest rates and commodity prices remain subdued.
  • With 94% of S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter earnings, 76% beat profit estimates, according to Fundstrat.

US stocks staged a rally on Monday after notching seven straight weeks of losses as investors continue to digest first-quarter earnings and the impact of high inflation and interest rates.

With 94% of S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter earnings, 76% have beat profit estimates by a median of 9%, according to data from Fundstrat. Meanwhile, 72% of companies beat revenue estimates by a median of 3%. 

While most companies are beating their earnings estimates, big misses from retail giants Target and Walmart last week led to their biggest drop since Black Monday in 1987. Both Target and Walmart were forced to eat the costs of higher fuel and shipping costs, and said certain inventory categories were not selling well with consumers.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Monday:

Charlie Munger's Daily Journal piled $118 million into stocks in the six months to March 31, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. The newspaper publisher and legal-software supplier funded the purchases by cashing out $81 million of other stocks, and borrowing $43 million from its margin-loan account, in the period.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Saturday criticized cryptocurrencies, saying they are "worth nothing," and should be regulated to protect people from depleting their life savings. 

In a Dutch student-led interview program, Lagarde said: "What I'm really concerned about when it comes to crypto assets is that those investments be made by people who have their eyes wide open about the fact that they can lose it all." 

Tether has paid out $10 billion in withdrawals to investors since the cryptocurrency market crashed earlier in May, leading the stablecoin to lose hold of its dollar peg. Of that, $1 billion of tether was redeemed at the weekend, and $1.5 billion three days before that, according to an analysis of blockchain data reported by the Guardian. 

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell as much as much as 0.20% to $110.06 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, fell as much as 0.06% to $112.48.

Bitcoin jumped 0.82% to $30,397. Ether prices rose 1.77% to $2,065.

Gold rose as much as 0.66% to $1,853.90 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose three basis points to 2.81%.

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