02:11 PM EDT, 10/20/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were higher after midday Monday, aided by a rise in Apple ( AAPL ) shares as investors awaited key corporate earnings due later in the week.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 1.5% at 23,016.2 intraday, while the S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 6,739. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1% higher at 46,676. Among sectors, technology and communication services paced the gainers, while utilities saw the biggest drop.

In company news, Apple ( AAPL ) shares were up 4.2%, among the best performers on the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq. Loop Capital upgraded the tech giant's stock to buy from hold and raised its price target to $315 from $226.

Separately, Counterpoint Research said Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone 17 series has outsold the iPhone 16 series by 14% during the first 10 days of availability in the US and China.

Cleveland-Cliffs' ( CLF ) third-quarter revenue rose year-over-year amid signs of demand recovery, while the steel producer said that it would explore producing rare earth minerals amid an ongoing dispute with China over these metals. The company's shares were up nearly 18% intraday.

Tesla (TSLA), Netflix ( NFLX ) , Procter & Gamble ( PG ) , GE Aerospace (GE), Coca-Cola (KO), IBM ( IBM ) , T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) , Philip Morris International ( PM ) , AT&T ( T ) and Intel ( INTC ) are some of the major companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly financial results later in the week.

"A key focus this week will be on third-quarter results from major tech, auto, telecom and industrial companies -- all (artificial intelligence) related," Wells Fargo Investment Institute said in a Monday note to clients. "We believe data on AI capex intensions is key for third-quarter earnings and a further rise in stocks."

Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) cloud platform, Amazon Web Services, reported a major outage early Monday, disrupting websites and apps of airlines and telecommunications, as well as social media platforms.

Although many sites were back online within a few hours of outage, Downdetector -- which tracks online outages -- showed another rise in user reports of outages at various Amazon ( AMZN ) services around noon ET, CNBC reported.

Amazon ( AMZN ) shares were up 1.3% intraday.

US Treasury yields were mixed, with the 10-year rate falling 1.6 basis points to 3.99% and the two-year rate little changed at 3.47%.

A US federal government shutdown has now entered its 20th day. The shutdown "is likely to end sometime this week," CNBC reported Monday, citing National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 0.8% at $57.10 a barrel intraday. "Oil prices declined on worries about a supply glut, while traders awaited cues from the upcoming US-China trade talks," D.A. Davidson said in a note.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that his top issues with China are related to rare earths, fentanyl and soybeans, according to Bloomberg News. "I don't want them to play the rare earth game with us," he reportedly said.

The US-China relation recently soured after Beijing moved to restrict exports of rare earths minerals, a move that led Trump to announce additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, effective Nov. 1.

Gold was up 3.5% at $4,358.90 per troy ounce, while silver gained 2.3% to $51.27 per ounce.