Stocks edge higher in post-holiday trade

Wall Street pushed stocks up slightly higher in early Trading Monday as traders get back to business after the Easter weekend, and stocks look to extend gains following last week's best gains since July 2013.

After Monday's opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 are fractionally higher and the Nasdaq is up 0.2%.

There was no trading on Wall Street Friday, as markets were closed for Good Friday. On Thursday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.54 points, or 0.1% to 1,864.85 and the Nasdaq composite index gained 9.29 points, or 0.2% to 4,095.52. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 16.31 points, or 0.1%, to 16,408.54, dragged lower by IBM's disappointing earnings report.

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Investors are awaiting a slew of economic reports this week, beginning with the leading economic indicators, to be released by The Conference Board at 10 a.m. ET on Monday. Existing home sales numbers will be out on Tuesday, followed by new home sales figures on Wednesday.

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In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index was little changed, losing 3.89 points to close at 14.512.38 after Japan posted a record annual trade deficit in 2013. The Shanghai composite lost 31.92 points, or 1.5%, to 2,065.83. Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong markets were closed in observance of the Easter holiday.

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Markets in England, France and Germany were also closed for Easter.

Contributing: The Associated Press.