Stocks up a tad; U.S. oil drops to about $46 a barrel

Stocks managed gains Monday — the Dow and S&P 500 just barely — as investors awaited a big week of earnings reports and reacted to data out of China showing GDP growth below 7%.

The Dow Jones industrial average  which is looking to extend its weekly winning streak to four, ended slightly higher, gaining about 15 points, or 0.1%.

After suffering its first 10% downdraft, or correction, this summer, the Dow has rebounded in recent weeks. The  blue-chip stock gauge has finished up three straight weeks, its longest winning streak since late last year. The rally has helped the Dow trim its decline from its May high to 6% and leaves it down 3.4% for the year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index ended up fractionally, while the Nasdaq composite index finished 0.4% higher.

At least partly driving stocks Monday was news out of China, where third-quarter GDP came in at 6.9%. While growth last quarter was better than the 6.8% growth rate analysts had forecast, it was still below the second-quarter's 7% growth and raised questions as to whether China will be able to reach its full-year GDP target of +7%.

The concerns over China's growth rate hit the oil patch, where U.S.-produced crude was down more than 2% to $46.13 per barrel in early trading.

Traders were also gearing up for a big week of earnings reports. More than 20% of S&P 500 companies and a dozen Dow stocks are set to report.

The results were mixed early Monday. Citing market turbulence that hurt trading and other lines of business, Morgan Stanley's earnings fell 20 cents shy of expectations, with revenues missing big, too. That hurt Morgan Stanley's (MS) shares, which were down 5.5%. Halliburton (HAL)  topped forecasts by three cents. IBM (IBM) reports after the closing bell later today.

So far this earnings season, 71% of the 58 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results have topped forecasts, vs. a 63% long-term beat rate. Still, profit is expected to contract 3.9% this quarter, and barring strong results could mark the first negative quarter for earnings since 2009 during the financial crisis.

Markets in Asia were steady after learning of China's 6.9% growth rate last quarter. Shares of mainland China's Shanghai composite index fell 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.4%. Stocks in Japan's Nikkei 225 were down 0.9%.

Stocks were mixed in Europe. Germany's DAX was up 0.6% and the CAC 40 in Paris was flat. Britain's FTSE 100 index fell 0.4%.