While you were sleeping: UPDATED Wall Street rises as Apple climbs to record

All three major benchmarks rose as Wall Street absorbed new corporate earnings reports.

Also, the Federal Open Market Committee began a two-day meeting during which it is not expected to raise interest rates.

Investors will eye Wednesday's post-gathering statement for any clues about the odds of a hike at their June meeting.

"The Fed's outlook is really based on economic fundamentals, and if growth and the labour market trend does not hold up, that could cause the Fed to go slower,'' Gennadiy Goldberg, an interest-rate strategist at TD Securities in New York, told Bloomberg.

"If it heats up, that could cause the Fed to roll off the balance sheet earlier."

At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 36.43 points, or 0.2%, to 20,949.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged 0.06% higher to 6095.37, again touching a record high 6102.72, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 0.1% to 2391.17.

The Dow rose, as gains in shares of Intel and those of Visa, up 1.4% and 1.2% respectively, outweighed declines of Procter & Gamble and those of JPMorgan Chase, down 1.0% and 0.8% respectively.

Apple hits new high
Shares of Apple, which reports its latest quarterly earnings after the market close, traded 0.4% stronger and touched a record high $US148.09 earlier in the day.

And the stock might continue its gains. Active stock fund managers around the world are holding the lowest percentage of Apple shares in their portfolios when compared to the iPhone maker's overall weighting in indexes, Reuters reported, citing a research note by investment bank UBS.

"Active fund managers as a whole continue to underperform their benchmarks and are not going to want to leave a lot of performance on the table if they continue to see this company rally," Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, an independent research firm in New York, told Reuters.

Energy stocks, the worst performing sector in the S&P 500 so far this year, fell 0.5% as a slide in crude prices pressured oil companies. US crude for June delivery lost 2.4% to $US47.66 a barrel, posting its second lowest settlement for the year.

While the latest round of US earnings has generally exceeded expectations so far, some disappointed.

Grain gluts sinks ADM
Archer Daniels Midland, the US agricultural trader, warned that massive global grain stocks are making it difficult to turn a profit trading grain internationally, Reuters reported. ADM shares sank 8.4%.

"We're working very hard in ag services to continue to improve our operations. We have been or facing a couple of years of very strong headwinds into that business," ADM chief executive Juan Luciano said on a conference call with analysts, according to Reuters.

"With ample stocks around the world, there is a very subdued environment for us to make profitable international trades."

Net profit attributable to ADM rose to $US339 million, or 59USc per share, in the quarter ended March 31, up from $US230 million, or 39USc a share, in the same quarter a year earlier, the Chicago-based company said in a statement.

Mosaic books loss
Shares of Mosaic dropped 7.6% after the US maker of fertiliser posted quarterly earnings that missed expectations amid lower phosphate and potash prices.

Mosaic swung to a net loss attributable to the company of $US900,000 for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of $US256.8 million, a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Even so, the company is upbeat about the outlook.

"We are seeing positive developments in the phosphates industry following a challenging 2016," Joc O'Rourke, chief executive officer, said in the statement.

"Realised product prices are rising, demand continues to be strong and we believe China is in the process of restructuring its industry. For the remainder of 2017, we expect improved margins in our phosphate business as we begin to realise the benefits of improving market conditions and completed plant maintenance."

Government bonds strengthened, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note falling to 2.296% from 2.327% on Monday. 

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 0.8% gain from the previous close. Germany's DAX Index rose 0.6%, as did the UK's FTSE 100 Index, while France's CAC40 Index added 0.7%.

(BusinessDesk)