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* Three main indexes gain after two straight days of losses
* Apple up on JPM's iPhone volume forecast raise, Cook's
comments
* Mallinckrodt up on opioid settlement with Ohio counties
* Merck rises after promising data from cancer drug
* Indexes up: Dow 0.60%, S&P 0.71%, Nasdaq 0.75%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh
Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were higher on Monday after
the technology sector surged on the back of gains in Apple
shares, helping Wall Street's major indexes recoup most of their
losses from the previous session.
Shares of the iPhone maker AAPL.O rose 2.3% as Chief
Executive Officer Tim Cook told a German daily that sales of the
newly launched phones were off to a strong start, while JP
Morgan raised its forecast for shipment volumes. Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O climbed 1%. Cook's commentary correlates to how the broader U.S. economy
is holding up, said Phil Blancato, chief executive officer of
Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York.
The technology sector .SPLRCT gained 1.2%, the most among
11 major S&P sectors. Only energy .SPNY stocks were trading in
the red, tracking a fall in oil prices. O/R
Sentiment 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."
The news had sent the S&P 500 .SPX and Nasdaq .IXIC to a
more than three-week low on Friday.
U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N ,
Baidu Inc BIDU.O and JD.com Inc JD.O were up between 0.8%
and 1.7% on Monday. "This idea of using different types of levers that impact
trade negotiations is something that we will get accustomed to,"
Ladenburg's Blancato said.
The next round of high-stakes trade talks between two of the
world's largest economies are scheduled for October.
The main indexes are on course to end the third quarter with
their worst 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 12:29 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 162.02 points, or 0.60%, at 26,982.27, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 20.93 points, or 0.71%, at 2,982.72. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 59.50 points, or 0.75%, at 7,999.13.
Merck & Co MRK.N gained 2.1% as it presented promising
data for its Lynparza cancer drug, which it develops in
partnership with Britain's AstraZeneca AZN.L . Its shares
helped the healthcare sector gain 1.3%. Newell Brands NWL.O jumped 6.3% after SunTrust Robinson
Humphrey upgraded the household goods maker to "buy".
The focus this week will be 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 decliners by a 1.59-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 16 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 17 new highs and 102 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
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