US stocks likely to continue climbing

US STOCKS rose last week and the momentum looks set to continue thanks to a better-than-expected earnings season and talk of a "melt-up".

Laurence Fink, head of the world's largest money manager BlackRock, said it was more likely that markets would spiral higher than spiral lower.

Stronger-than-expected earnings growth, less political uncertainty, Chinese economic stimulus and the prospects of a trade deal are among the factors whetting risk appetite.

"We predict rotation from credit to equity and commodities prior to formation of big summer top in risk assets," said strategists at brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research in a note to clients.

"We await greedy positioning, end of policy stimulus, higher profit expectations before t…