US STOCKS-S&P 500 futures hit record high on stimulus bets

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* Futures: Dow 0.90%, S&P 0.60%, Nasdaq 0.47%

By Medha Singh
Aug 11 (Reuters) - Futures tracking the S&P 500 hit an
all-time high on Tuesday, setting the benchmark index on track
to open just about 0.5% below its peak, as investors bet on more
federal measures to support the country's economy.
Ultra-low interest rates, trillions of dollar in stimulus
and, more recently, a better-than-feared second-quarter earnings
season have fueled a rally in Wall Street's three main indexes.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC was the first among the three
to bounce back from the coronavirus-induced crash in March,
boosted by "stay-at-home winners" Amazon.com AMZN.O , Netflix
Inc NFLX.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O .
The blue-chip Dow .DJI is about 6% below its February
peak.
"You've got to admit that this is a market that wants to go
up, despite tensions between U.S.-China, despite news of the
coronavirus not being particularly encouraging," said Andrea
Cicione, a strategist at TS Lombard.
"We're facing an emergency from the health, economy and
employment point of view — the outlook is a lot less rosy.
There's a disconnect between valuation and the actual outlook
even though lower rates to some degree justify high valuation."
President Vladimir Putin said Russia had become the first
country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19
vaccine after less than two months of human testing.
Investors are now hoping Republicans and Democrats will
resolve their differences and agree on another relief program to
support about 30 million unemployed Americans. The benchmark index is set to open about 12 points below its
Feb. 19 record peak of 3,393.52.
At 6:58 a.m. ET, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 20.25
points, or 0.6%, to 3,373, topping an all-time high of 3,372.25
last hit on Feb. 20.
Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 250 points, or 0.9%, and Nasdaq
100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 51.75 points, or 0.47%.
Among early movers, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N
advanced 4.4% as it said testing for the coronavirus was very
likely going to be a part of new safety measures planned to get
its ships to resume sailing after months of being docked.
Peers Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH.N and
Carnival Corp CCL.N rose about 6% and 4%, respectively.
No. 1 U.S. mall owner Simon Property Group SPG.N gained
2.3% despite posting disappointing second-quarter profit as its
chief executive expressed some hope over a recovery in retail as
lockdown measures in some regions eased. Airline stocks such as American Airlines Group AAL.O and
United Airlines UAL.O rose for the second day after the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Monday flagged a
pickup in the number of air travelers.