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* Walgreens rises after forecast raise
* U.S. private payrolls increase in March
* Three major indexes headed for quarterly gains
* Indexes up: Dow 0.1%, S&P 0.8%, Nasdaq 1.9%
(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to late afternoon)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
March 31 (Reuters) - Technology shares led the S&P 500 to a
record high on Wednesday, and the three major Wall Street
indexes were set to post their fourth straight quarterly gains,
as investors awaited details of President Joe Biden's massive
infrastructure plan.
The S&P 500 benchmark index was less than 15 points from
hitting 4,000 for the first time as bets on a strong economic
rebound helped the market ride out a quarter that saw a retail
trading frenzy, inflation worries, a spike in Treasury yields
and a U.S. hedge fund going bust.
"The trend we're seeing today is investors rotating back
into growth-oriented names that have gotten a little bit beaten
up over the past few weeks or so due to underlying rotation
toward the economic reopening stocks," said Michael Sheldon,
chief investment officer at RDM Financial Group at Hightower.
Some cyclical sectors could also be taking a breather from
their rise because of recent strength in the dollar, he said.
"That's probably had some impact on commodity prices,
industrial stocks and possibly financials as well."
For the quarter, the Nasdaq's gain lagged increases in the
other two major indexes as investors swapped growth-oriented
stocks with underpriced shares deemed to benefit most from a
full economic reopening.
Biden's $3 trillion-$4 trillion infrastructure package will
target traditional projects like roads and bridges alongside
investments in the electric vehicle market. The size and scale of the proposal, as well as the question
of how it would be paid for is likely to set the stage for the
next partisan clash in Congress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 27.24 points,
or 0.08%, to 33,094.2, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 31.09 points,
or 0.79%, to 3,989.64 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
253.09 points, or 1.94%, to 13,298.49.
Last week, the Dow hit a record closing high, thanks to the
recent $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus and vaccine rollouts.
The Nasdaq was up more than 1% on the day, but the index is
about 6% off its all-time peak as high-flying tech names have
been hit by a surge in U.S. 10-year bond yields US10YT=RR .
Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 2.1% after brokerage UBS upgraded
the stock to "buy" on stable long-term demand for iPhones with
better authorized service providers. Meanwhile, U.S. private employers boosted hiring in March as
more Americans got vaccinated against COVID-19. The payroll
report was in line with the recent signs of improvement in the
labor market and comes ahead of a more comprehensive monthly
jobs report on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O advanced after raising
its 2021 profit forecast on higher sales at its U.S. retail
pharmacy stores. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.99-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.17-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 17 new lows.
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