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* China says in close contact with U.S. on trade pact
* Tesla gains as Wedbush hikes price target
* Holiday season online sales hit all-time high - report
* Indexes rise: Dow 0.19%, S&P 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.33%
(Updates price action)
By Manas Mishra
Dec 26 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes hit fresh
record highs on Thursday on optimism over an imminent U.S.-China
trade deal that has put the benchmark index on track for its
best year since 2013.
Traders returned from the Christmas break to Beijing's
reaffirmation that it was in close contact with Washington about
the initial agreement, which is widely expected to be signed in
early January. President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed that the pact
would be formalized at a signing ceremony, but did not disclose
a date or location. "It looks like everybody had a good Christmas, and that is
slopping over into today's stock action," said Kim Forrest,
chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in
Pittsburgh.
Hopes of a breakthrough in the prolonged trade war, combined
with a loose monetary policy and robust domestic data, have
powered U.S. stocks to record highs in the past few weeks.
The S&P 500 is about 1 percentage point short of its best
year since 1997.
At 9:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 54.85 points, or 0.19%, at 28,570.30, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 7.90 points, or 0.25%, at 3,231.28. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 29.61 points, or 0.33%, at 8,982.50.
Trading volumes are expected to remain thin this week.
A Labor Department report on Thursday showed that the number
of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week,
indicating resilience in the labor market. Underlining relatively strong consumer confidence, a report
on Wednesday showed U.S. shoppers spent more online during the
holiday shopping season, with e-commerce sales hitting a record
high. Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O rose 1.3%, the biggest boost to S&P
500 index. Its shares also pushed up the consumer discretionary
index .SPLRCD , which rose 0.4%, the most among the 11 S&P 500
sectors.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O shares edged up 0.5% as Wedbush boosted
its price target on the electric-car maker's stock, partly on
expectations of strong U.S. demand for Model 3 sedans.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.43-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 62 new highs and 10 new lows.