US STOCKS-Vaccine boost helps send Wall Street to record

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* J&J targets COVID-19 late-stage trial results by January
* U.S. FDA staff backs Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine data
* Tesla falls on launching $5 bln share sale
* Dow up 0.49%, S&P 500 up 0.38%, Nasdaq up 0.51%

(Updates to mid-afternoon, changes byline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as
each of the major averages touched record levels in part due to
a boost from the healthcare sector on positive COVID-19 vaccine
news, while uncertainty over fresh fiscal stimulus held gains in
check.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N gained 1.67% to help lift both the
Dow and S&P 500 after the company said it could obtain
late-stage trial results of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine it is
developing in January, earlier than expected. Pfizer Inc PFE.N also advanced 1.67% as it cleared the
next hurdle in the race to get its COVID-19 vaccine approved for
emergency use, after the U.S. health regulator released
documents raising no new safety or efficacy issues. Wall Street's main indexes have traded in a tight range to
start the trading week, as investors look for more stimulus in
the face of surging COVID-19 cases and fresh restrictions in
California. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
Tuesday she supported including another round of $1,200 direct
payments for Americans in a fresh package, which is currently
not included in the $908 billion proposal put forth by a
bipartisan group of lawmakers last week. "The market has already priced in something, and what we are
going to get now is probably less than what the market
expected," said Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital
Advisors in Jupiter, Florida.
"The market is now expecting a $900 billion package because
that is what they made it sound like so if they get less than a
$900 billion package, the market will have priced in too much
and it will back off a little bit."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 147.64 points,
or 0.49%, to 30,217.43, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 13.89 points,
or 0.38%, to 3,705.85 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
64.07 points, or 0.51%, to 12,584.01.
Investors are closely watching whether policymakers will be
able to clinch an agreement on a long-awaited coronavirus relief
bill and a $1.4 trillion spending bill, with Friday eyed as a
deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The U.S. Congress will vote this week on a one-week stopgap
funding bill to provide more time for lawmakers to reach a deal
on both spending and pandemic relief.
Positive developments related to the COVID-19 vaccine have
in recent weeks helped investors look past the surge in
infections and anticipate an economic rebound next year.
Analysts now expect investor attention to gradually shift
from vaccine approvals to their global distribution and any
possible side effects that may occur.
Boeing Co BA.N shed 0.23% after company data showed the
planemaker lost another 63 orders for its newly ungrounded 737
MAX jet in November. After spending the early part of the session in negative
territory, Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 0.64% after the electric-car
maker unveiled a $5 billion capital raise, its second such move
in three months. Drug developer Moderna Inc MRNA.O climbed 1.67%, after
Switzerland increased its confirmed orders for its COVID-19
vaccine doses to 7.5 million from 4.5 million. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.92-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.70-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 207 new highs and 8 new lows.