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* Qualcomm among top boosts to S&P 500, Nasdaq on upbeat
forecast
* Trade-sensitive chipmakers, industrials rise
* Ralph Lauren jumps on profit beat
* Roku plunges after bigger loss
* Indexes up: Dow 0.84%, S&P 0.53%, Nasdaq 0.74%
(Changes comment, updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 7 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes hit fresh
record highs on Thursday, as signs of progress in U.S.-China
trade relations and a batch of largely upbeat earnings boosted
risk appetite.
The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX is eyeing its fifth
straight week of gains, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC is
on track to rise for a sixth week in a row.
China said on Thursday it had agreed with the United States
to remove tariffs in phases, while state-owned Xinhua News
Agency said Beijing was also considering removing restrictions
on poultry imports. "A reduction in tariffs is a positive for the overall
market," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and
senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
"Trade right now looks like the one thing that can push the
markets higher at this point, because we have got through
earnings and most of the heavy hitting economic data points for
the month."
Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with the
communication services sector .SPLRCL gaining 1.23%, the most
among all, while financials rose 1.19% as the benchmark 10 year
U.S. Treasury yield hit a three-month high. US/
The technology sector .SPLRCT provided the biggest boost
to the S&P 500, riding on a 8.3% jump in Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O
shares after the chipmaker forecast current-quarter profit above
analysts' estimates. Chipmakers, which have a sizeable exposure to China, rose
propping the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX 1.42%
higher and trade-sensitive industrials SPLRCI were also up
0.55%.
"People are moving back to the value camp. Technology stocks
and companies like 3M, which have a lot of international
exposure and are cyclically dependent are going to be getting
the most attention today," Pavlik said.
Of the 430 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so
far, 74% have beaten profit expectations, according to IBES data
from Refinitiv.
At 11:31 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 229.76 points, or 0.84%, at 27,722.32, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 16.17 points, or 0.53%, at 3,092.95 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 61.96 points, or 0.74%, at 8,472.59.
Ralph Lauren Corp RL.N jumped about 12% after it topped
second-quarter profit expectations, helped by a tighter control
on expenses and strong demand for its Polo shirts and tweed
jackets in China and Europe. Expedia Group Inc EXPE.O tumbled 24.8% as the online
travel booking company missed quarterly profit estimates.
Roku Inc ROKU.O plunged 10.6% after posting a bigger net
loss in the third quarter, as it spent more to attract
subscribers to its video streaming platform. Twitter Inc TWTR.N fell 1% after Evercore ISI downgraded
the stock to "underperform" from "in-line". Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.23-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.73-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 51 new 52-week highs and five new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 99 new highs and 60 new lows.