A woman using a phone walks past Apple's logo near its retail outlet in Beijing Monday, Dec. 23, 2013.Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press
Is this a Santa rally or an Apple rally?
Bullish observers have been pondering a year-end move by stocks, conforming to a pattern that often sees major indexes rise in the final days of trading leading up to the Christmas and New Year break. But stocks received a boost from Apple Inc. after it concluded six years of negotiations with a deal to sell iPhones in China through China Mobile – a deal that could mean 12-million additional sales in 2014. Apple shares rose 3.6 per cent in premarket activity on Monday.
Major indexes also saw gains. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 51 points or 0.3 per cent, while futures for the broader S&P 500 were up 8 points or 0.4 per cent.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 per cent and Germany's DAX index rose 0.6 per cent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose less than 0.1 per cent in overnight trading and China's Shanghai stock exchange composite index broke a 10-day losing streak, rising 0.2 per cent. China has been the source of some financial concerns recently, with rising borrowing costs between banks threatening lending activity, despite hefty cash injections from the country's central bank.
In economic news, the U.S. will deliver a revised reading of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence index. Economists expect the index to rise to 83, up from 82.5.
David Berman