Around the World's Markets: New York

US STOCKS rose to record levels for the second time in three sessions, led by General Electric on optimism that second-quarter profit reports in coming days will be surprisingly strong.

GE will report a 14 per cent rise in second-quarter earnings today, according to a survey of analysts.

The Dow Jones index rose 52.24, or 0.5 per cent, to 11,187.36, led by GE. The high-tech Nasdaq index gained 6.26, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,743.04.