CORRECTED-US STOCKS-Wall Street advances as U.S. factory activity hits near 2-year high

(Corrects headline and paragraph 3 to show U.S. factory
activity hit a near two-year high, not 19-month high)
* Apple rises on reports of 75 mln 5G iPhones orders
* Zoom surges after raising annual revenue forecast
* Walmart advances after unveiling membership plan details
* Indexes up: Dow 0.01%, S&P 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.84%

By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Tuesday as a surge
in Apple shares propelled the tech-heavy Nasdaq to record highs,
while better-than-expected U.S. manufacturing sector data fueled
optimism around a post-pandemic economic recovery.
Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 1.7%, rising for the second
straight day after its stock split took effect, as a report said
the iPhone maker had asked suppliers to make at least 75 million
5G iPhones for later this year. ISM data showed U.S. factory activity expanded for the third
straight month to a reading of 56.0 in August, the highest since
November 2018. The figures follow encouraging manufacturing
surveys from China and Europe earlier in the day. will keep a close eye on the monthly U.S. jobs
report due on Friday amid signs the labor market's recovery is
stalling.
Wall Street's main indexes recorded their fifth straight
monthly gain on Monday, riding massive central bank support,
U.S. government aid and demand for tech-focused stocks.
While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have scaled all-time highs
recently, the blue-chip Dow is still about 4% below its February
peak.
"Investors are continuing to reward the ability to innovate
and adapt ... not just to the tech companies, but those
companies that are in other industries that have been good users
of technology," said Stephen Lee, portfolio manager at Logan
Capital Management in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
Technology .SPLRCT , communication services .SPLRCL and
consumer discretionary .SPLRCD stocks were leading gains among
the major S&P sectors.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's comment that a new
coronavirus relief bill will "hopefully" be unveiled next week
also boosted sentiment. U.S. politics will take center stage in the coming weeks.
Republican president Donald Trump, who is running for
re-election against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden,
has seen his polling gap with the former vice president narrow
recently. At 10:11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 4.16 points, or 0.01%, at 28,434.21 and the S&P 500
.SPX was up 6.82 points, or 0.19%, at 3,507.13. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 98.94 points, or 0.84%, at 11,874.40.
Among other stocks, Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM.O
surged 43.5% after the video-conferencing platform raised its
annual revenue forecast by more than 30% as it converted more of
its huge free user base to paid subscriptions. Walmart Inc WMT.N rose 2.6% after the retail giant
unveiled the perks of its new loyalty program, Walmart Plus,
which will grant subscribers unlimited free delivery, fuel
discounts and no checkout lines. Tesla Inc TSLA.O fell 4.3% after the electric-car maker
announced plans to raise up to $5 billion through a share sale
program a day after its 5-for-1 stock split. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.10-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.17-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 20 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 59 new highs and 22 new lows.