US STOCKS-S&P 500 hovers near all-time high as banks, industrial rise

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* Growth stocks set to outperform value for the second week
* Honeywell gains as brokerages raise price targets
* Indexes: Dow up 0.28%, S&P up 0.14%, Nasdaq off 0.26%

(Updates to market open)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Medha Singh
April 9 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 paused on Friday after
hitting an all-time high as economy-linked stocks including
banks and industrials gained on optimism around strong U.S.
economic growth.
Financial stocks .SPSY rose 0.9%, more than any other S&P
sector, with Bank of America Corp BAC.N , Citigroup Inc C.N
and JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N rising between 0.8% and 1.1%.
The banks will kick off the first-quarter earnings season
next week, and analysts expect profits for S&P 500 firms to have
jumped about 25% year on year, the strongest performance for the
quarter since 2018, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
"We have had a tremendous run recently and there's some
excitement about how strong corporate America's earnings will
be," said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL
Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"It is a chance to justify the rallies that we have seen
recently to new highs."
Weaker-than-expected labor market data on Thursday eased
inflation worries and validated the Federal Reserve's
accommodative stance, lifting the technology-heavy Nasdaq 1%
higher and powering the S&P 500 to a record close.
President Joe Biden will release his first budget proposal
to Congress on Friday, offering a long-awaited glimpse into a
policy agenda that will mark a sharp departure from his
predecessor, Donald Trump.
At 9:56 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 92.41 points, or 0.28%, at 33,595.98, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 5.92 points, or 0.14%, at 4,103.09, and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was down 35.52 points, or 0.26%, at 13,793.79.
Technology .SPLRCT and communication services .SPLRCL
stock, which house high-flying names, inched lower.
Still, the Russell 1000 growth index .RLG , which comprises
mainly technology-related stocks, is set to outperform its value
counterpart .RLV , made up of mostly financials and energy
names, for a second consecutive week following the recent
pullback in longer-dated Treasury yields. US/
"This week is a reminder that technology is not dead,"
Detrick said.
"It's still a group that has a lot of explosive growth and
it's a nice change for investors who felt some pain from tech's
under performance earlier this year."
Bank of America's weekly fund flow figures showed investors
have pumped more money into equities over the past five months
than in the last 12 years. Honeywell HON.N gained about 2.2% as Jefferies and J.P.
Morgan raised their price targets on the U.S. aero parts maker's
shares.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.06-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.87-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and 19 new lows.