US stocks rise as more states reopen

US stocks rose in early trading Monday as more states began to re-open their economies following the government-imposed shutdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday New York's construction and manufacturing sectors will re-open first and will be followed by others if social distancing can be practiced and protective equipment is available for staff. Professional sports events could reopen, but without an audience.

The governor said coronavirus-related deaths have declined for two weeks and that deaths related to the pandemic are near a one-year low.

Alaska, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming are also restarting their economies.

Companies likely to benefit from the restarting include American Airlines, Carnival cruises and MGM Resorts. All rose in early trading. Retailers Kohl's and Walmart also gained. But Macy's ticked down.

In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 99.07 points, or 0.33 percent, to 23,875.03. The S&P 500 rose 0.58 percent. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.16 percent.

But futures for West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the gauge for US prices, fell about 27 percent to $12.28 a barrel, counterpointing optimism in equities. Oil is often viewed as a proxy for future economic activity. Brent crude, the worldwide benchmark, fell 6.69 percent to $23.15 percent.

Apple plans to delay release of four new iPhones about a month this year as the coronavirus pandemic gutted global consumer demand, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The iPhone generates about half the company's revenue. The new phones will come in three sizes and some will have 5G connectivity.

High expectations for the new phone sent Apple shares to record levels before the pandemic hit. Analysts believed the new iPhones would revitalize a mature product line that last year failed to sell more than 200 million devices for the first time since 2015.

Adidas, maker of sportswear and athletic shoes, said first-quarter net profit plunged 94 percent. About 70 percent of its stores remain closed to limit spread of the coronavirus. It warned that second quarter sales could decline as much as 40 percent from the same period a year ago.

Fitch Ratings said asset purchases by the world's central banks are likely to total $6 trillion in 2020, or equal to about 50 percent of half the cumulative quantitative easing total from 2009 to 2018.

"Central banks' balance sheets are expanding extremely rapidly as they buy up large quantities of public and private assets and increase their lending to financial institutions in their efforts to counter the damaging economic impact of the coronavirus," Fitch said in a report.