NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Monday ahead of key US economic data and earnings as markets monitor the latest Covid-19 and vaccination trends.

Top US scientist Anthony Fauci predicted the United States would see “some pain and suffering in the future” due to the Delta strain of Covid-19.

But on the positive side, new US vaccinations have begun to tick higher again in the last week or so after a period of decline.

After ending last week on a lackuster note, analysts said the early gains Monday reflected the inflow of additional investment funds at the start of a new month.

This week’s calendar includes the July jobs report, as well as earnings from General Motors and Marriott International, among others.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7 percent at 35,164.28.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.5 percent at 4,419.14, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 14,713.99.

Among individual companies, fintech company Square jumped 7.7 percent after announcing the $29 billion acquisition of Australia’s fast-growing buy-now, pay-later firm Afterpay.