Wall Street opened higher Monday, as investors braced for earnings reports and economic data this week. Investors are waiting for a crush of earnings reports and hardest hit banking sector highlights this week's market. The nation's largest banks -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. -- are all scheduled to report second-quarter results this week. Goldman Sachs gained ahead of earnings report Tuesday after Meredith Whitney, the founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC, gave the company 'buy' recommendation. Meredith Whitney also said Bank of America is among the cheapest U.S. banks. Investors also awaited key readings on inflation, retail sales and housing starts throughout the week. The Dow Jones rose 48.29 to 8,194.81. Broader indexes also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index increased 5.67 to 884.80; and the Nasdaq rose 2.62 to 1,758.65. 