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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 up on beating sales expectations as orders

thrive

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Indexes up: Dow up 0.2%, S&P up 0.1%, Nasdaq up 0.1%

(Updated at 09:46 a.m. ET/1346 GMT)

By Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian

April 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes crept

higher in volatile trading on Monday as shares of Tesla and

Apple ( AAPL ) advanced while investors exercised caution ahead of the

Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the week.

Tesla shares shot up nearly 13%, driving a 1.8%

rise in the consumer discretionary sector, after the

electric vehicle maker cleared some key regulatory hurdles that

had long hindered the roll-out of its self-driving software in

China, its second-largest market.

Apple ( AAPL ) added 3.5% after a report that the iPhone

maker had renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the

startup's generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Bernstein upgraded the stock to "outperform".

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, buoyed by moderate

inflation data and a rally in megacap growth stocks following

robust quarterly results from technology heavyweights Alphabet

and Microsoft.

Also offering support, Israel-Hamas peace talks in Cairo

eased fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Focus will now shift to the Fed's interest rate decision due

on Wednesday, ahead of a key jobs report on Friday that could

set the tone for market direction in the near-term.

"Markets are a little fragile right now and people are

hanging on every data point and are still trying to figure out

whether the inflation numbers in the three months were a

beginning of a trend and whether GDP last month was a

significant slowdown or a one-off," said Chris Jackson, senior

vice president at UBS Wealth Management.

Money markets are pricing in just 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 09:46 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose

86.82 points, or 0.23%, to 38,326.48, the S&P 500 gained

6.08 points, or 0.12%, to 5,106.04 and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 10.48 points, or 0.08%, to 15,940.42.

Offsetting the optimism, the communication services sector

lost 1.3%, steered by shares of Alphabet and

Meta Platforms ( META ) that shed more than 2% each.

Earnings season is in full swing, with adjusted blended

earnings for the first quarter estimated to grow 8.7% on a

year-over-year basis, according to LSEG data.

Domino's Pizza jumped 3.3% after topping Street

expectations for first-quarter same-store sales, as consumers in

the United States tapped into the pizza chain's spruced-up

loyalty program and other promotional offerings.

Of the 229 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported

quarterly earnings as of Friday, 77.7% surpassed analyst

expectations, compared with a long-term average of 66.7%.

Among other movers on Monday, Paramount Global ( PARAA )

gained 5.6% 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.

A fall in bitcoin prices pulled down cryptocurrency-linked

stocks in trading. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global ( COIN ) and

crypto miners Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) and Marathon Digital ( MARA )

were down between 4% and 8%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.99-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 2.34-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and no new lows,

while the Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and 16 new lows.

(Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in

Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)