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* Apple biggest boost to tech sector
* China exempts 16 types of U.S. goods from tariffs
* Baker Hughes falls as GE looks to cut stake
* Indexes up: Dow 0.39%, S&P 500 0.49%, Nasdaq 0.87%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Uday Sampath Kumar
Sept 11 (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Wednesday, boosted
by Apple Inc after the launch of its latest iPhones, while
investor nerves were also soothed by China's move to ease trade
tensions with the United States.
Shares of the Silicon Valley giant AAPL.O rose 2.79%, as
it also rolled out a streaming TV service at a price that
undercuts Walt Disney Co DIS.N and Netflix Inc NFLX.O .
The gains took Apple's market valuation above $1 trillion
and lifted the wider technology sector .SPLRCT by 0.78%, the
biggest boost among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors.
Tech stocks bounced from a drop in the previous session,
which saw investors moving to more value-oriented stocks from
growth shares.
Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated
Investors, said he believed investors will likely continue to
move money into sectors like financials and energy, as well as
small cap stocks, which have all underperformed this year.
Adding to the positive momentum, China's finance ministry
moved to exempt 16 types of U.S. goods, including lubricants and
some animal feed ingredients, from additional retaliatory
tariffs, ahead of a planned meeting between trade negotiators.
While on the surface, the move is seen as a friendly gesture
to thaw relations with the United States, analysts are skeptical
about how much it will move the needle in resolving a protracted
trade war that has hurt the global economy.
The nature of the goods that are being exempted are staples
and indicates that China's decision is likely more to do with
supporting its own economy rather than extending an olive branch
to the United States, Ed Egilinsky, head of alternative
investments at Direxion said.
"There's a big difference between today's move and sitting
down at the negotiating table and actually ironing out a deal."
Comments from a senior White House adviser on Tuesday urging
investors to be patient about resolving the dispute further
downplayed expectations that a trade deal would be agreed this
year. Investors held out on big bets ahead of stimulus decisions
from central banks to stem a global slowdown in economic growth.
The U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are
expected to cut interest rates at their policy meetings over the
next two weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday renewed his attacks
on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, saying that the central bank
should get interest rates down to "ZERO, or less".
While the domestic economy is well insulated from
uncertainties like Brexit that are dragging on European markets,
U.S. investors will react negatively on Thursday in the event
that the ECB puts out a more hawkish policy decision than
expected, Orlando said.
At 1:05 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 105.55 points, or 0.39%, at 27,014.98, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 14.57 points, or 0.49%, at 2,993.96 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 70.16 points, or 0.87%, at 8,154.31.
Shares of Micron Technology Inc MU.O rose 1.8% after
Longbow Research upgraded its stock to "buy". Baker Hughes BHGE.N fell 4.5%, the most among S&P 500
companies, after parent General Electric GE.N looked to sell a
majority stake in the oilfield services provider.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2.11-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.58-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 22 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 11 new lows.