* Boeing's shares rise on CEO exit
* Apache Corp up after joint venture with rival Total
* Indexes rise: Dow 0.37%, S&P 0.11%, Nasdaq 0.16%
(Updates price action)
By Manas Mishra
Dec 23 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit fresh
record highs on Monday as President Donald Trump said an initial
U.S.-China trade pact would be signed "very shortly", while
Boeing shares lifted the Dow after the planemaker fired its
chief executive officer.
The so-called "phase one" deal, announced earlier this
month, has helped fuel a rally on Wall Street, with the
benchmark index hitting a record closing high on Friday for the
seventh time in eight sessions.
Last week, the S&P 500 also logged its biggest weekly
percentage gain since early September, and is on track for its
best annual performance since 2013. "The end of the year rally is continuing for the right
reasons," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan
Capital Securities in New York. "The market is focusing on the
fact that we're seeing some daylight in the trade war."
China said it would cut tariffs on products including frozen
pork, avocado and some types of semiconductors next year.
Boeing Co BA.N jumped 3.2% after it ousted Chief Executive
Officer Dennis Muilenburg, following a year of intense scrutiny
and industrial setbacks set off by twin fatal crashes of its 737
MAX jetliner.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , which is often sensitive to
trade-related news, rose 1%. Shares of the company also helped
lift the broader S&P 500 technology sector .SPLRCT .
At 9:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 103.91 points, or 0.37%, at 28,559.00, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 3.68 points, or 0.11%, at 3,224.90. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 14.16 points, or 0.16%, at 8,939.11.
Apache Corp APA.N jumped 7.8%, the most among S&P 500
companies, after the oil and gas producer said it had formed a
joint venture with France's Total TOTF.PA to develop a project
off Suriname. Few economic indicators are expected in a trading week
shortened by the Christmas holiday, with focus turning to the
U.S. personal consumption expenditure deflator for November due
on Friday.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.09-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 23 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and 14 new lows.