REFILE-US STOCKS-Nasdaq leads Wall St higher on tech boost, stimulus hopes

(Corrects to "House" in third bullet, drops extraneous word
"set" in headline)
* Apple jumps ahead of special event on Tuesday
* Twitter rises after DB upgrades to 'buy'
* White House calls for limited COVID-19 relief bill
* Indexes up: Dow 0.43%, S&P 0.79%, Nasdaq 1.40%

By Medha Singh
Oct 12 (Reuters) - The tech-heavy Nasdaq led Wall Street's
main indexes higher on Monday as optimism about an agreement in
Washington over more fiscal support lifted sentiment ahead of
the start of quarterly corporate earnings.
Apple Inc AAPL.O provided the biggest boost to the three
main stock indexes with a 3.7% gain ahead of a special event on
Tuesday, which most analysts believe will be used to unveil the
new iPhone with 5G capabilities. The Trump administration on Sunday called on Congress to
pass a stripped-down coronavirus relief bill as negotiations on
a broader package ran into resistance. "(President Donald) Trump is falling behind in opinion polls
and seems desperate for a deal, so either some agreement will be
hammered out soon or the Democrats could win a decisive victory
at the ballot box and ultimately deliver an even greater
stimulus package," said Marios Hadjikyriacos, investment analyst
at online broker XM in Cyprus.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Americans were steadily
losing confidence in Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic,
with his net approval on the issue hitting a record low.
Growing expectations of a Democratic victory in next month's
presidential election as well as bets of fresh federal aid have
sent Wall Street's main indexes to one-month highs.
With the Oct. 15 presidential debate officially canceled,
Trump plans to travel to key battleground states this week as
his doctor declared he was no longer a transmission risk for the
novel coronavirus. Results from big U.S. banks will be in focus this week, with
JPMorgan & Co JPM.N and Citigroup C.N set to report on
Tuesday. Bank shares were flat to slightly higher in premarket
trading.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N , which reports on Wednesday,
is considering whether to scale back financial targets set
earlier this year due the coronavirus pandemic's impact,
analysts and sources inside the bank said. The bank's management is not expected to move the goalposts
on Wednesday, but may change targets in January, a year after
they were set, sources said.
Overall, analysts expect third-quarter earnings for S&P 500
companies to have fallen 21% from a year earlier, smaller than a
30.6% slump in the second quarter.
At 9:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 122.21 points, or 0.43%, at 28,709.11, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 27.39 points, or 0.79%, at 3,504.52, and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 161.88 points, or 1.40%, at 11,741.82.
The S&P technology sector .SPLRCT climbed 1.5% to lead the
gainers. The energy index .SPNY was the weak spot, as oil
prices dropped on easing supply worries. O/R
Twitter Inc TWTR.N gained 5.3% after Deutsche Bank
upgraded the social media firm's shares to "buy" on expectations
of continued growth in 2021.
Other tech companies such as Netflix Inc NFLX.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O rose between
1.7% and 2%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.13-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.29-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 50 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 112 new highs and three new lows.