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* Main indexes gain after two straight days of losses
* Apple up on JPM's iPhone volume forecast raise, Cook's
comments
* Merck rises after promising data from cancer drug
* Indexes: Dow +0.59%, S&P 500 +0.64%, Nasdaq +0.84%
(Updates to afternoon)
By Noel Randewich
Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, helped by
surges in Apple and Merck & Co as investors set aside worries
about the U.S.-China trade war.
Shares of Apple AAPL.O rose 2.4% after Chief Executive
Officer Tim Cook told a German daily that sales of the company's
newest iPhones were off to a strong start, while JP Morgan
raised its forecast for shipment volumes. Apple is struggling to
reverse shrinking iPhone sales amid tepid global demand for
smartphones. The S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT and the health care
index .SPXHC both added about 1.3%, leading other sectors.
Sentiment on Wall Street also got a boost after White House
trade adviser Peter Navarro dismissed reports that the Trump
administration was considering delisting Chinese companies from
U.S. stock exchanges as "fake news." Concerns related to those reports had sent the S&P 500
.SPX and Nasdaq .IXIC to a more than three-week low on
Friday.
"This idea of using different types of levers that impact
trade negotiations is something that we will get accustomed to,"
said Phil Blancato, chief executive officer of Ladenburg
Thalmann Asset Management in New York.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd BABA.N and Baidu Inc BIDU.O rose over 1%. The next round of high-stakes trade talks between two of the
world's largest economies are scheduled for October.
Wall Street's main indexes are on course to end September
with the weakest quarterly performance so far this year, rattled
by a host of factors, including an escalation in U.S-China trade
tensions, the inversion of an important part of the U.S. yield
curve and political turmoil in Washington.
Click here to view the interactive graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2n5vkTu
At 2:36 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 0.59% at 26,979.04 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained
0.64% to 2,980.85.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.84% to 8,006.41.
Merck & Co MRK.N gained 2.5% as it presented promising
data for its Lynparza cancer drug, which it develops in
partnership with Britain's AstraZeneca AZN.L . Newell Brands NWL.O jumped 3.3% after SunTrust Robinson
Humphrey upgraded the household goods maker to "buy."
Investors this week will focus on economic reports,
including a key jobs report and the September ISM purchasing
managers index (PMI). August's PMI data showed a contraction in
the manufacturing sector.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.63-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.62-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and 105 new lows.
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Wall Street's third quarter performance interactive https://tmsnrt.rs/2n5vkTu
Wall Street's third quarter performance png https://tmsnrt.rs/2n60f29
PREVIEW-Third quarter could mark turning point in U.S. profit
cycle ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>