Amid geopolitical clouds, US stocks hit new highs

THE US stock market finally broke its technical tethers and hit new highs last week as Japan looked set to extend the era of low interest rates and earnings reports from Alcoa, JPMorgan Chase and others topped Wall Street estimates.

For the rally to continue, earnings from computer giant International Business Machines (IBM), streaming service Netflix and manufacturing conglomerate General Electric (GE) will have to sustain investor enthusiasm. Even then, turmoil in Turkey and more political unrest brewing in Europe mean the ebullience may not last long.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed around 18,500 on Friday, after spending the 18 months since December 2014 trading between 16,000 and 18,000. US stocks rallied against a grim backdrop.