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Tesla gains after clearing self-driving hurdles in China

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Apple ( AAPL ) rises after report of talks with OpenAI

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Domino's Pizza beats sales expectations, shares up

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Indexes up: Dow up 0.30%, S&P up 0.19%, Nasdaq up 0.25%

(Updates to 2:48 PM ET)

By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on

Monday, with sharp gains for Tesla and Apple ( AAPL ) leading the way, as

investors looked toward what the Federal Reserve would say about

the interest rate outlook after its policy meeting this week.

Traders expected the Fed to keep rates unchanged while

striking a hawkish tone.

Tesla shares surged 15%, after the electric vehicle

maker made progress in securing regulatory approval to launch

its advanced driver-assistance program in China, its

second-largest market after the U.S.

Apple ( AAPL ) gained 3.1% following a report that the

iPhone maker had renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the

startup's generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Bernstein upgraded Apple's ( AAPL ) stock to "outperform".

Other megacap stocks were trading lower. Alphabet,

Meta Platforms ( META ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ),

were down between 0.3% and 3.2%.

Nine out of 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher led by

stocks in consumer discretionary, utilities, real estates,

materials and industrials.

"The bigger question than rates, because they're not

going to cut this week, is how hawkish they're going to speak

because they've already been pretty hawkish," said Thomas Hayes,

chairman at hedge fund Great Hill Capital in New York.

Money markets are pricing in about 35 basis points (bps) of

interest rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps seen at

the beginning of the year, according to LSEG.

At 2:48 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose

113.70 points, or 0.30%, to 38,353.36, the S&P 500 gained

10.10 points, or 0.19%, to 5,109.84 and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 39.69 points, or 0.25%, to 15,967.59.

Domino's Pizza jumped nearly 5% after topping

expectations for first-quarter same-store sales. Of the 233

companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings,

78.1% surpassed analyst expectations, compared with a long-term

average of 67%, according to LSEG data.

Paramount Global ( PARAA ) gained 3.5% after a report that

the Redstone family and Skydance Media CEO David Ellison have

made concessions to make a potential change in control of the

streaming firm more appealing for other investors.

"The overall momentum is still to the upside and it's an

important week, with a ton of earnings, the Fed on Wednesday and

nonfarm payrolls on Friday, and the path of least resistance is

higher," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell

Curve Trading in Boston.

Meanwhile, the Japanese yen

jumped

against the dollar on Monday, with traders citing

yen-buying intervention by authorities trying to support a

currency languishing at levels last seen over three decades ago

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.8-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,640 stocks rose and 1,514 fell as

advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.74-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and one new low

while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and 55 new lows.