CORRECTED-US STOCKS-Wall Street advances as U.S. factory activity hits near 2-year high

(Corrects headline and paragraph 4 to show U.S. factory
activity hit a near two-year high, not 19-month high)
* Apple rises on reports of orders for 75 mln 5G iPhones
* Zoom surges after raising annual revenue forecast
* Walmart advances after unveiling membership plan details
* Indexes up: Dow 0.16%, S&P 0.28%, Nasdaq 0.90%

By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Tuesday as gains
in Apple and Zoom Video shares propelled the tech-heavy Nasdaq
to record highs, while better-than-expected U.S. manufacturing
sector data fueled optimism around a post-pandemic economic
recovery.
Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 2.2%, rising for the second
straight day after its stock split took effect, as a report said
the iPhone maker had asked suppliers to make at least 75 million
5G iPhones for later this year. Among top boosts to the Nasdaq was Zoom Video Communications
Inc ZM.O , which surged 36.6% after the video-conferencing
platform raised its annual revenue forecast by more than 30% as
it converted more of its huge free user base to paid
subscriptions. ISM data showed U.S. factory activity expanded for the third
straight month to a reading of 56.0 in August, the highest since
November 2018. The figures follow encouraging manufacturing
surveys from China and Europe earlier in the day. employment continued to lag, according to ISM data,
supporting views that the labor market recovery was losing
momentum. Investors will keep a close eye on the monthly U.S.
jobs report due on Friday. Wall Street's main indexes recorded their fifth straight
monthly gain on Monday, riding massive central bank support,
U.S. government aid and demand for tech-focused stocks.
While the Nasdaq and S&P 500 have scaled all-time highs
recently, the blue-chip Dow is still about 4% below its February
peak.
"There are limited options where you can buy growth, because
the country is slowly reopening and tech does the best in the
slow growth economy," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at
Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Technology .SPLRCT , materials .SPLRCM and consumer
discretionary .SPLRCD stocks were leading gains among the
major S&P sectors.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's comment that a new
coronavirus relief bill will "hopefully" be unveiled next week
also boosted sentiment. U.S. politics will take center stage in the coming weeks.
Republican president Donald Trump, who is running for
re-election against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden,
has seen his polling gap with the former vice president narrow
recently. At 11:00 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 44.44 points, or 0.16%, at 28,474.49, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 9.78 points, or 0.28%, at 3,510.09. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 106.53 points, or 0.90%, at 11,881.99.
Walmart Inc WMT.N rose 4.4% after the retail giant
unveiled the perks of its new loyalty program, Walmart Plus,
which will grant subscribers unlimited free delivery, fuel
discounts and no checkout lines. Tesla Inc TSLA.O fell 1.1% after the electric-car maker
announced plans to raise up to $5 billion through a share sale
program a day after its 5-for-1 stock split. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.42-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.02-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 26 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 72 new highs and 28 new lows.