US STOCKS-Wall St gains on hopes of stimulus-powered rebound, Boeing boost

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* Investors await nonfarm payroll, factory activity data
* Boeing up 6.4% MAX 737 test flights slated to start
* Coty top pct gainer on the S&P 500
* Indexes up: Dow 1.74%, S&P 1.04%, Nasdaq 0.67%

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By Uday Sampath Kumar and Devik Jain
June 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Monday following a sharp selloff last week, as investors clung
to hopes of a stimulus-backed economic rebound even as
coronavirus cases surged, while a jump in Boeing shares boosted
the blue-chip Dow.
The planemaker BA.N rose 6.4% after the Federal Aviation
Administration confirmed on Sunday it had approved key
certification test flights for the grounded 737 MAX that could
begin as soon as Monday. A spike in virus infections in Southern and Western states
last week spooked U.S. markets, but the threat of a
deeper-than-feared recession has led investors to expect that
the Federal Reserve or Congress will step in with more stimulus.
"The market believes that the Fed has its back," said Sam
Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New
York.
"If things get really bad, the Fed will step in with
additional monetary easing and basically reach into their bag of
tricks to do whatever they need to support the market."
All 11 major S&P 500 sub-indexes were in the black, with
industrial .SPLRCI and material .SPLRCM stocks leading
gains.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX has rebounded since a
coronavirus-driven crash in March, up about 17% since April and
set for its best quarter since 1998, as the economy showed signs
of a pickup.
Data on Monday showed contracts to buy previously owned
homes rebounded by the most on record in May, suggesting the
housing market was starting to turn around. Later this week,
investors will focus on employment, consumer confidence and
manufacturing data for June.
Still, the BlackRock Investment Institute downgraded U.S.
equities to "neutral", citing risks of fading fiscal stimulus,
an extended epidemic as well as renewed China-U.S. tensions.
Stovall said some of the choppy trading on Monday was likely
down to mutual fund rebalancing their portfolios at the end of
the month.
At 11:41 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
434.25 points, or 1.74%, to 25,449.8, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
31.35 points, or 1.04%, to 3,040.4 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 65.72 points, or 0.67%, to 9,822.94.
Coty Inc COTY.N jumped 8.7% after it said it would buy a
20% stake in reality TV star Kim Kardashian West's makeup brand
KKW for $200 million. Facebook Inc FB.O extended declines from Friday as a
report said PepsiCo Inc PEP.O was set to join a growing number
of companies pulling ad dollars from the social media platform.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3-to-1 ratio on
the Nasdaq and by a 3.13-to-1 ratio the NYSE.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week highs and no new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 43 new highs and 15 new lows.