US STOCKS-Wall St soars to record high on trade optimism, tech bounce

<br>By Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew<br> <br>Jan 9 (Reuters) – U.S.
stocks hit record highs on Thursday as Middle East tensions eased, optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal firmed and several brokerages boosted price targets on high-profile companies.<br> <br>Investors snapped up market heavyweights including Apple Inc , Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc, lifting their shares between 0.9% and 2.0%.<br> <br>Apple gained on twin support from data showing iPhone sales jumped more than 18% in China in December, as well as a price target hike by Jefferies on expectations of a strong finish to 2019.<br> <br>Cowen Equity Research raised its price target on Alphabet, Facebook, and Twitter Inc after its survey of U.S.

ad buyers showed upbeat spending in 2020. Technology stocks rose 1%, the most among the major S&P sectors.<br> <br>After a wobbly start to the new year on fears of an all-out conflict in the Middle East, nerves eased as Washington and Tehran looked to defuse the crisis after Iran’s retaliatory attack following the U.S.

killing of a top Iranian general.<br> <br>In another support to stocks, China’s commerce ministry said Vice Premier Liu He will sign a Phase 1 deal in Washington next week.<br> <br>”The fear of a new Middle East war was taken off the table and the assertion that China is going to ink a deal with America kind of gives a path to growth globally,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.<br> <br>”And it’s January – people tend to put money into the market and that tends to drive it up.”<br> <br>At 11:29 a.m.

ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 182.22 points, or 0.63%, at 28,927.31, the S&P 500 was up 17.59 points, or 0.54%, at 3,270.64 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 70.40 points, or 0.77%, ngentot at 9,199.64.<br> <br>Among the weak spots was the department store operator Kohl’s Corp, which slid 9.2% after reporting lower holiday season sales.<br> <br>Smaller rival J.C.
Penney Co Inc dropped 10.8% after disappointing same-store sales numbers.<br> <br>With the fourth-quarter earnings season kicking off next week, analysts expect profits for S&P 500 companies to drop 0.6% in their second consecutive quarterly decline, according to Refinitiv IBES data.<br> <br>Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.<br> <br>The S&P index recorded 67 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 129 new highs and 8 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Maju Samuel and Shounak Dasgupta)<br>