US STOCKS-Wall Street at record high as Democrats take control of Senate

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* Walgreens top gainer on Dow after profit beat
* Weekly jobless claims dip unexpectedly
* DXC jumps on $10 bln takeover offer from French rival
* Indexes up: Dow 1%, S&P 1.5%, Nasdaq 2.4%

(Adds comment; updates market prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Wall Street hit record levels on Thursday
as market participants bet on more coronavirus relief aid under
a Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress to help the economy ride out
a steep pandemic-led downturn.
Economy-linked financials .SPSY jumped 2.1%, while
industrial .SPLRCI and materials .SPLRCM sectors hovered
near record highs on expectations that President-elect Joe Biden
would line up a bigger fiscal package and boost infrastructure
spending. "You're seeing a reflation trade on the assumption that a
more progressive and aggressive fiscal stimulus packages could
be in the offing," said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at
GlobAlt in Atlanta.
Rate-sensitive bank shares .SPXBK gained 3.3%, tracking a
surge in the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield. US/
The S&P 500 technology .SPLRCT , up 2.4%, was set to more
than make up for its losses from a day earlier, when shares of
some of the biggest technology companies dropped on fears of
increased regulation.
The NYSE FANG+TM index .NYFANG , which includes the core
FAANG group of stocks that have led the Wall Street rally from
pandemic lows, gained 2.1%.
The Congress on Thursday certified Biden's election victory,
hours after hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters
stormed the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on American
democracy that briefly weighed on markets. At 11:47 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 306.47 points, or 0.99%, to 31,135.87, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 57.18 points, or 1.53%, to 3,805.32 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 306.33 points, or 2.40%, to 13,047.12.
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits
unexpectedly dipped last week, while staying elevated, a Labor
Department report showed, with the job market recovery appearing
to stall as COVID-19 threatens to overwhelm the country.
"With more stimulus coming, even if we do have a miss on
claims, it's going to be a little bit less severe, because we
know there's going to be a bigger back up for those who are
recently unemployed," said Max Gokhman, head of asset allocation
at Pacific Life Fund Advisors in Newport Beach, California.
Investors are now awaiting a comprehensive December jobs
report, which is expected on Friday.
DXC Technology DXC.N surged 7% as France's IT consulting
group Atos ATOS.PA made a more than $10 billion takeover
approach for its U.S. rival, according to two sources with
knowledge of the matter. Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 6% to a record
high after RBC Capital Markets upgraded its stock rating to
"sector perform". Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O advanced 6.6%, leading
gains among Dow components .DJI , after it beat analysts'
estimates for adjusted quarterly profit, driven by higher sales
at its retail pharmacy stores and higher prescription volumes.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.6-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.8-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 92 new 52-week highs and no new lows
while the Nasdaq recorded 445 new highs and 13 new lows.