【早间财经】Feb 11th

U.S. stocks rallied for a third consecutive day on Monday ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's first testimony in Congress on Tuesday. With no major economic figures released Monday, investors were trying to digest a batch of data released last week. The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that total non-farm payroll employment increased by 113 thousand in January, falling short of economists' estimates. The major indices closed at session highs, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rising to their highest in over two weeks. Nasdaq jumped 0.5 percent, while the Dow added 0.1 percent, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.2 percent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX closed up 0.1 percent. Across the Atlantic, European stock markets zigzagged around the flat line on Monday, with disappointing Italian and French factory data largely offsetting optimism over the latest round of corporate news. Nokia climbed 2.8 percent after the phone-maker settled all pending patent litigation with HTC. Under the agreement, HTC will make payments to Nokia. Shares of L'Oréal gained 4.5 percent after reports suggested Nestle is looking into ways to reduce its 30 billion stakes in the French cosmetics firm. Economic numbers weren't as upbeat as the corporate news, thus Germany's DAX 30 was down 0.1 percent. France's CAC 40 was up 0.2 percent. And the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent.