ASX to rise, Wall St extends year-to-date surge

Pinned post - 7.24AM Australian shares are poised to rise as US stocks extended their first-quarter advance. The Dow paced Wall Street higher, rising 478 points, powered by a 5 per cent leap in drugmaker Merck and a 4.2 per cent gain in Intel. The S & P 500 closed at a record high and within 13 points of its record intraday high. Apple rallied 2.1 per cent, while Nvidia shed 2.5 per cent. "The S & P 500 continues to defy all of the naysayers," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. "As we have been…