US market extends all-time high ahead of Apple results

US stocks rose amid optimism better-than- estimated technology earnings will extend last week’s rally, while European shares advanced as Greece reshuffled its bailout- negotiating team.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.3 per cent to a record 2,122.94 at 9:35 a.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.9 per cent, erasing an earlier loss of as much as 0.7 per cent. Gold climbed 0.9 per cent as conflicting US data clouded the outlook for higher interest rates.

The Taiwan dollar jumped the most since 2013 and US natural gas dropped to the lowest since June 2012.

Greece resumed efforts to break a deadlock with its creditors as weekend polls showed a majority of the country's people want the government to make compromises needed to release funds for its economy. Investors are awaiting a Federal Reserve meeting this week for more clues on the timing of interest-rate increases, while the Bank of Japan decides policy Thursday.

Apple is among 10 S&P 500 companies reporting earnings after the Nasdaq Composite Index reached a record last week.

“Traders are cautiously optimistic that a good report from Apple and other tech names can continue to drive the Nasdaq further,” Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc., said by phone. “If that happens, we’re probably going to take the rest of the market to new highs.”

Greece deadline

Greece reshuffled its bailout-negotiating team, clipping Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’s wings, after three months of talks with creditors failed to unlock aid and a meeting with his euro-area counterparts ended in acrimony. Greece is counting on deposits of local governments, cities and other funds to meet end-of-month payments of over €1.5 billion. Euro-area finance ministers on April 24th said they won’t disburse more aid until bailout terms are met by the anti-austerity coalition government. The S&P 500 advanced after the index climbed to a record last week, with the Nasdaq Composite surpassing the all-time high reached in 2000.

Apple will probably show that earnings jumped by more than 20 per cent when it reports results for the second fiscal quarter after the market close. While Apple doesn’t break out shipments by country, the world’s biggest company may have sold 18 million to 20 million iPhones in greater China during the period.

Bloomberg