U.S. stocks open higher ahead of Yellen's speech

U.S. stocks opened higher Monday as investors awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech, scheduled for midday after a weak jobs report.

Traders will keep a close eye on her comments for clues on the timing of the next interest rate hike.

"Janet Yellen won't be asked to anything heroic today, but she will be under some pressure when she speaks at 12:30 (1630 GMT) to the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia," said Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director at Deep Value.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 43.97 points, or 0.25 percent, to 17,851.03. The S&P 500 rose 3.01 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,102.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index ticked up 2.57 points, or 0.05 percent, to 4,945.09.

Wall Street expected that a sharp decline in the hiring situation may push back the central bank's decision to raise interest rates in June.

The U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 38,000 in May, well below the market consensus of 158,000 and notching the fewest monthly job gains in almost six years, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The unemployment rate, however, declined by 0.3 percentage point to 4.7 percent in May.

Some analysts believed that a June rate hike is off the table after the disappointing jobs report, but July is still possible.

U.S. stocks pared part of early losses to end modestly lower Friday, as the country's nonfarm payrolls data came out much worse than expected. Endi