US STOCKS-Wall St turns higher as Trump promises cures, cash

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* Trump sees "lot of goodwill" in stimulus talks
* Ford draws down $15.4 bln in credit
* American Airlines secures more funding
* Accenture cuts outlook as services pain grows
* Indexes: Dow, S&P both up 2%, Nasdaq gains 3.5%

(Updates after market turns positive)
By Medha Singh
March 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street pushed into positive
territory on Thursday as policymakers pulled out all the stops
to try and stave off a deep and lasting coronavirus-driven
recession and its damaging fallout on corporate America.
President Trump, in a now regular update for Americans
hunkered down in their homes, said there were therapies that he
believed could be rolled out quickly, and sounded upbeat on the
chances of agreeing hundreds of billions of dollars of aid with
Congress.
In its latest move to stabilize panicked markets, the U.S.
Federal Reserve also opened swap lines with central banks in
nine new countries to ensure the world's dollar-dependent
financial system continued to function.
That was the latest in a host of emergency actions taken by
the U.S. central bank over the last two weeks, including cutting
borrowing costs to near zero and providing billions more for
cheap credit.
Ford Motor Co F.N was the latest major U.S. corporation to
bolster its cash reserves to ride out the virus impact, drawing
down more than $15 billion from existing credit lines.
"We have had some pretty bold moves by the Fed in the last
week or two and most of them have had a very short-lived impact
on the market so hopefully this one will help," said Randy
Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles
Schwab in Austin, Texas.
"It speaks also to the fact that when they cut rates to zero
a lot of people had commented that they thought maybe the Fed is
out of bullets if you will, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
It sounds like they have lots of tools still available to them
and this is just another one of them."
The gains remained small compared to the almost one third
collapse in the value of the S&P in the past month. The Nasdaq,
led by gains for Microsoft MSFT.O , Amazon.com AMZN.O and
Facebook FB.O rose 3.5%.
The S&P airlines index, down roughly 60% this year, inched
up 0.4% .SPCOMAIR . Hotel operator Marriott International Inc
MAR.O pulled its 2020 financial outlook, but its shares rose
more than 8%. Accenture Plc ACN.N cut its full-year revenue and earnings
outlook, citing an impact from the coronavirus outbreak.
However, its shares also rose 8%. Wall Street's worst selloff since the 2008 sub-prime crisis
has deepened this week and the Dow erased the last of its gains
under Donald Trump's presidency on Wednesday.
Official data showed the number of Americans filing for
unemployment benefits surged to 2-1/2-year high last week as
companies in the services sector laid off workers because of the
coronavirus pandemic that has fractured economic activity.
New York Stock Exchange-owner Intercontinental Exchange Inc
ICE.N said the market would temporarily close its trading
floors and move fully to electronic trading starting next week.
At 11:55 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 399.59 points, or 2.01%, at 20,298.51, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 48.42 points, or 2.02%, at 2,446.52. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 247.43 points, or 3.54%, at 7,237.27.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.37-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a
3.28-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 3 new 52-week highs and 85 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 10 new highs and 477 new lows.