US STOCKS-Wall Street kicks off month on strong footing, growth stocks lag

* Financials, energy, materials lead sectoral gains
* Moderna rises on vaccine supply deal with COVAX
* Estee Lauder falls as Q3 revenue misses estimates
* U.S. manufacturing sector slows in April
* Indexes up: Dow 0.85%, S&P 0.60%, Nasdaq 0.38%

(Updates prices to open, adds comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar
May 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on Monday
after a week of largely upbeat earnings strengthened
expectations of sustained profit growth for companies, while
some high-flying growth stocks lagged a broader rally.
With more than half of S&P 500 companies having already
reported results so far, profits are seen rising 46% in the
first quarter, compared with forecasts of 24% growth at the
start of April, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors climbed in early
trading, with economy-sensitive cyclical stocks, including
financials .SPSY , energy .SPNY , industrials .SPLRCI , and
materials .SPLRCM , leading the gains.
"Earnings so far have been substantially better than
projections. People and institutions are feeling positive about
the market right now even though we're close to all-time highs,"
said Mark Grant, chief global market strategist at B. Riley FBR
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Nasdaq index .IXIC lagged on the day. Megacap
technology stocks, including Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc
AMZN.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O ,
traded mixed despite posting largely upbeat results last week.
The stocks have struggled to maintain the upward trajectory
they had coming into reporting season.
"The catalysts are strong for a sell-in-May strategy with
the hot start to 2021," said Jeff Carbone, managing partner for
Cornerstone Wealth. "It may be time to take some profits from
the strong growth sectors that have had big runs in 2021."
Improving economic data, strong earnings, fiscal stimulus
and the Federal Reserve's ultra accommodative stance have
supported markets, pushing the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq
.IXIC indexes to record levels last week.
Data on Monday showed U.S. manufacturing activity grew at a
slower pace in April, likely constrained by shortages of inputs
amid pent-up demand due to rising vaccinations and massive
fiscal stimulus. The Labor Department's non-farm payrolls data, slated to be
released on Friday, is expected to show a rise in job additions
in April.
At 10:07 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 287.89 points, or 0.85%, at 34,162.74, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 25.03 points, or 0.60%, at 4,206.20 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 53.48 points, or 0.38%, at 14,016.16.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O fell 1.2%. Industry sources told Reuters
the electric-vehicle maker, under scrutiny in China over safety
and customer service complaints, is boosting its engagement with
mainland regulators and beefing up its government relations
team. Moderna Inc MRNA.O gained 3.4% after the drugmaker said it
will supply 34 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year
to the global COVAX program.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc EL.N slid 5.5% after missing
analysts' estimates for third-quarter sales, hurt by weak demand
for the cosmetics maker's premium makeup products as people
continued working from home. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.79-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.51-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 61 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 77 new highs and 26 new lows.