US STOCKS-S&P 500 hits record high ahead of Biden's spending plan outline

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* Walgreens rises after forecast raise
* U.S. private payrolls increase in March
* Three main indexes headed for quarterly gains
* Apple rises as UBS upgrades to 'buy'
* Indexes up: Dow 0.06%, S&P 0.55%, Nasdaq 1.62%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
March 31 (Reuters) - Technology shares helped the S&P 500
rise to a record high on Wednesday, as investors awaited details
on President Joe Biden's massive infrastructure plan, while Wall
Street was set to wrap up its fourth straight quarterly gain.
The $3 trillion-$4 trillion package that 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. Unprecedented stimulus and a swift vaccine rollout in the
United States helped the S&P 500 and the Dow hit record closing
highs last week.
The Nasdaq jumped more than 1.5% on Wednesday, 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 .
"Today's market is back to technology and away from the
industrial economic reopening and certainly infrastructure
stocks that were in focus yesterday," said Paul Nolte, portfolio
manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.
"It's very much a binary market - either technology or
economic reopening trade - depending on the news of the day and
that's really been the theme over the last 3-4 weeks."
After leading Wall Street's rally from the coronavirus-lows
of last year, the Nasdaq's 3% gain has lagged the S&P 500's 6%
rise and the Dow 8% addition this quarter.
At 11:34 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 20.23 points, or 0.06%, to 33,046.73, and the S&P 500
.SPX gained 21.64 points, or 0.55%, to 3,980.19 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 211.45 points, or 1.62%, to 13.256.84.
Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 2.6% after brokerage UBS upgraded
the stock to "buy" on stable long-term demand for iPhones with
better authorized service providers. Technology sector .SPLRCT added about 1.6%, while
financials .SPSY and energy .SPNY stocks dropped in a
reversal of this quarter's trend.
Latest numbers showed U.S. private employers boosted hiring
in March as more Americans got vaccinated against COVID-19. The
report is in line with recent signs of improvement in the labor
market and comes ahead of the more comprehensive monthly jobs
report on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O advanced 5% after
raising its 2021 profit forecast on higher sales at its U.S.
retail pharmacy stores. Chewy Inc CHWY.N jumped 10% as brokerages raised their
price targets on the stock after the online pet product retailer
posted fourth-quarter profit from year-ago loss. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.3-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.9-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and no new low while
the Nasdaq recorded 66 new highs and 33 new lows.