US stocks opened higher to open the week on the front foot following on from some eye-catching gains in Europe.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said new proposals submitted by Greece to its creditors were a “basis for progress”.
The proposals included tax rises and spending cuts, actions that Greece’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras had previously refused to countenance.
With relatively little by way of US economic news, investors jumped on the positive sentiment in Europe, sending the three main US indices higher.
The Dow Jones jumped 120 points to 18,139 while the Nasdaq climbed 36 points to 5,150 and the broader S&P 500 rose 13 to 2,123.
The big news of the day came from none other than pop singer Taylor Swift who wrote an open letter to Apple to campaign for singers to be paid for songs listened to by customers trying out Apple's music service.
Apple replied with a tweet saying it would pay artists for music streamed to customers during a free trial period.
The company, which harvests 30% of the price for any download without investing money to sign or develop artists, has often been accused of having its foot firmly on the throat of the music industry.
Investors saw the move as a good idea and shares in Apple climbed 0.6% to US$127 on the news.
Away from Taylor Swift, shares of Williams surged after the natural-gas pipeline giant said over the weekend that it had rejected an unsolicited buyout offer worth US$48bn. It did not name the company that made the bid.
Today, Energy Transfer Equity said it was to bid US$53.1 billion for Williams. Shares in Williams rocketed almost 25% to US$ 60 while ETE nudged lower to US$68.
There seems to be no slowing down for Fitbit as it continued to rise again today. The wearable device expert was 10% to US$35 on its third day of trading after jumping 50% on its debut.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the FTSE 100 climbed 1.3% to 6,800 led higher by P&O cruise owner Carnival (LON:CCL) after an upgrade from Deutsche Bank.
The broker upgraded its rating on the stock to a ‘buy’ and lifted its target price to 3,525p up from 3,400p. Shares climbed 4% to 3,295p.