U.S. stocks were little changed on Monday, as investors digested a new batch of corporate earnings for signals about the potency of an economic recovery.

Diversified manufacturer Eaton Corp said quarterly profit fell sharply from a year ago, but still topped expectations, adding it saw early signs of recovery in its markets. Shares rose 6 percent to $64.01.

BB&T Corp slipped 4.5 percent to $26.99 after the regional bank reported third-quarter profit tumbled by 56 percent, but said early indicators of problem loans were largely stable compared with the second quarter.

Hasbro Inc shed 4.6 percent to $28.15 after the toymaker posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit, lifted by a demand for movie-related toys, but revenues fell short of the Wall Street view.

What we've seen so far has been pretty good. Revenues were better than expected, earnings were been better than expected. So what we saw last week was clearly better-than-expectations. Does that continue? said Stephen Massocca, managing director, Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

By the time we get to the end of this week, we'll have a real good idea of how the numbers look. But from what we've seen so far, the numbers look very, very good.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 24.03 points, or 0.24 percent, to 10,019.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> added 1.54 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,089.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 3.53 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,153.27.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)