Wall Street's Week Ahead: Dow Jones Industrial Average Jumps 100 Points, Nasdaq Gains Ahead Of Apple Inc. ‘Spring Forward’ Event

U.S. stocks edged higher Monday as investors turned their attention to Apple Inc. and its first major event of 2015. The world’s most valuable company is widely expected to unveil details about its Apple Watch at a 1 p.m. EDT event in San Francisco. In the meantime, investors tried to shrug off sharp losses sustained Friday, when the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 270 points on concerns the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates sooner than expected.

The Dow, which measures the share prices of 30 large industrial companies, gained 101.12 points in early trading Monday, or 0.57 percent, to 17,957.90. The S&P 500 stock index added 5.53 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,076.96. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.39 points, or 0.05 percent, to 4,930.10.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Expected to Unveil Apple Watch

Apple will kick off its highly anticipated "Spring Forward" event Monday, with CEO Tim Cook expected to formally unveil the price and final features of the company’s Apple Watch, its first smartwatch and its first product developed under Cook.

The launch comes as the tech giant prepares to replace AT&T Inc. on the Dow after the close of trading on March 18. Ahead of the event, shares of the iPhone maker edged up 0.65 percent Monday to $127.60 in morning trading.

ECB Launches Massive 'QE' Program

The European Central Bank on Monday started its monetary stimulus program, which will pump more than 1 trillion euro ($1.1 trillion) into the EU economy. The move comes after the struggling economy revised the 2015 full-year GDP growth estimates higher, to 1.5 percent from previous expectations of 1 percent. Eurozone finance ministers are scheduled to discuss Greece's reform plans after the country reached a deal last month that will extend the Greek bailout program for four months.

Japan’s Economy Expands Slower Than Expected in Q4

Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, grew less than previously thought in the October-December period of 2014, though it did crawl out of recession. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew an annualized 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, down from an initial reading of 2.2 percent in February. Japan's economy slipped into recession in Q3 2014 after its economy shrank 1.9 percent in the July-September period, following a revised 7.1 percent contraction in the second quarter.

Here's the economic calendar for the week of March 9. All listed times are EDT.

Monday

10 a.m. -- Labor Market Conditions Index
12 p.m. -- Financial Accounts

Non-U.S.:

Europe -- Eurogroup Meeting

Tuesday

9 a.m. -- National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Index (February)
10 a.m. -- Job Openings (January)
10 a.m. -- Wholesale Inventories (January)

Non-U.S.: