US STOCKS-Nasdaq hits record closing high as Wall St rises with tech shares

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* Biogen submits marketing application for Alzheimer's drug
* Allstate slips on $4 bln deal to buy National General

(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
July 8 (Reuters) - U.S stocks rose on Wednesday and Nasdaq
hit a record closing high, supported by technology shares as
early signs of an economic rebound offset concern about further
lockdowns due to a jump in coronavirus cases across the country.
Apple Inc AAPL.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O provided the
biggest boost to the S&P 500.
The number of confirmed U.S. cases surpassed 3 million,
affecting nearly one of every 100 Americans. California, Hawaii,
Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and Texas broke their
previous daily record highs for new infections. Investors have been weighing a string of upbeat economic
data including record job additions and a rebound in the service
sector in June, against the surge in U.S. coronavirus cases
recently, but the S&P 500 is still up about 40% from its March
closing low.
"The market continues to ignore the potential consequences
of these spikes in new coronavirus cases," said Peter Cardillo,
chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New
York.
"It's overbought," he said. "While I don't expect this
market to crash... I think investors at this juncture are
playing with fire," he said, noting the rise in safe-haven gold
prices. XAU= GOL/
Adding to the bullish tone late in the session, St. Louis
Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told CNBC in an
interview that U.S. unemployment will likely decline to below 8%
"maybe even 7%" by the end of the year. Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
177.44 points, or 0.69%, to 26,067.62, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
24.72 points, or 0.79%, to 3,170.04 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 148.61 points, or 1.44%, to 10,492.50.
Markets also appeared to be in a wait-and-watch mode before
the beginning of the second-quarter earnings season, which kicks
off next week with reports from the big Wall Street banks.
Quarterly earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to
decline nearly 44% year-on-year, the steepest drop since the
2008 financial crisis, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Biogen Inc BIIB.O jumped after the company said it
submitted the marketing application for its experimental
Alzheimer's disease therapy, aducanumab. Allstate Corp ALL.N shares slipped as the U.S. insurer
said it would buy National General Holdings Corp NGHC.O for
about $4 billion, scaling up its auto insurance business.
National General shares surged.