(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* U.S. coronavirus cases top 7 million
* Costco Wholesale drops on high COVID-19 costs
* Cruise operators jump after Barclays upgrade
* Indexes up: Dow 0.36%, S&P 0.59%, Nasdaq 1.09%
(Adds comments; updates prices)
By Devik Jain
Sept 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Friday, led by technology-related stocks, but were still set for
their longest weekly losing streak in a year as fears about the
coronavirus' impact on the economy weighed on investor
sentiment.
Shares of tech mega-caps including Facebook Inc FB.O ,
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Apple Inc
AAPL.O and Netflix Inc NFLX.O , which are perceived as
relatively safe assets at a time of economic uncertainty,
climbed between 0.4% and 1.9%.
The information technology index .SPLRCT jumped another
1.2% after outperforming for most of the week as investors
ditched value-linked stocks .IVX in the face of deteriorating
economic data.
"We've been down for a number of days and the market is such
that it's looking for opportunities to buy," said Barry James,
portfolio manager at James Investment Research in Ohio.
All the three major U.S. stock indexes are on course for
their fourth straight week of declines - their longest weekly
losing streak since August 2019.
Volatility .VIX has also shot up as investors look for
clarity on more Congressional stimulus ahead of the Nov. 3
presidential election.
At 11:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 97.00 points, or 0.36%, at 26,912.44, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 19.02 points, or 0.59%, at 3,265.61, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 116.18 points, or 1.09%, at 10,788.44.
The S&P industrials sector .SPLRCI added 0.8% as data
showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods jumped in
August, while a 0.7% slide in energy stocks .SPNY put them on
course for one of their worst weeks since the coronavirus-driven
crash in March. Royal Caribbean RCL.N , Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH.N and
Carnival Corp CCL.N jumped more than 5% after a report that
Barclays upgraded their stock to "overweight". Costco Wholesale Corp COST.O fell 2.6% as the warehouse
chain recorded high coronavirus-related costs for the second
straight quarter. Boeing Co BA.N gained 3.6% after Europe's chief aviation
safety regulator said the planemaker's grounded 737 MAX could
receive regulatory approval to resume flying in November and
enter service by the end of the year. Novavax Inc NVAX.O jumped 11.3% after the drugmaker
launched a late-stage trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine
in the UK. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 1.29-to-1 on the NYSE
and 2.09-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 14 new highs and 30 new lows.