US STOCKS-S&P closes at record high as Apple, healthcare stocks help shrug off Delta worries

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03/08/2021 21:02

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
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 (Updates prices to close, adds comments)
    By Echo Wang
    NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes
closed higher on Tuesday on gains in Apple and healthcare
stocks, despite concerns over a surge in the Delta variant of
the coronavirus taking some shine off an upbeat corporate
earnings season.
    Ten of the 11 S&P indexes traded higher, with the S&P 500
index setting a record closing high and energy stocks  .SPNY 
rebounding after getting hit by a dip in oil prices  O/R . 
    Apple Inc  AAPL.O  rose after sliding last week. Other
heavyweight technology stocks, including Netflix Inc  NFLX.O ,
Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  and Facebook Inc  FB.O  continued to edge
lower, capping gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
    A clutch of U.S. companies, including industrial materials
maker Dupont  DD.N  and Discovery Inc  DISCA.O , reported
better-than-expected quarterly results, but their shares fell as
investors booked profits amid lofty stock valuations.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2PA27O  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2PA2GX
    Rising cases of the Delta variant and signs that the
domestic economic rebound has begun to slow have knocked the
three main U.S. stock indexes off record highs, while a
deepening regulatory scrutiny in China has sent jitters through
the global technology sector. 
    Shares in U.S.- and European-listed gaming companies fell
after a steep sell-off in China's social media and video games
group Tencent  0700.HK , driven by fears the sector could be
next in regulators' crosshairs.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PA0RB
    Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  rose
279.16 points, or 0.8%, to 35,117.32, the S&P 500  .SPX  gained
36.14 points, or 0.82%, to 4,423.3 and the Nasdaq Composite
 .IXIC  added 80.23 points, or 0.55%, to 14,761.30.
    The S&P 500's  .SPX  previous record closing high was
4,422.30.   
    Data on Tuesday showed U.S. factory orders rose 1.5% in June
after a 2.3% increase in the previous month. Economists polled
by Reuters had expected a rise of 1% in June.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nAQN04HHTI
    Later in the week, focus will shift to data on the U.S.
services sector and the monthly jobs report for July.
    In M&A-driven moves, Translate Bio  TBIO.O  surged after
France's Sanofi  SASY.PA  agreed to buy the U.S. biotech company
in a $3.2 billion deal.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PA0BI
    Under Armour Inc  UA.N  and Ralph Lauren Corp  RL.N  both
jumped after raising their annual revenue forecasts.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2PA2E2
    Overall, earnings at S&P 500 firms are estimated to have
climbed about 90% in the second quarter versus forecasts of
65.4% at the start of July, according to IBES data from
Refinitiv.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2P90ZH
    “The earnings reports continue to come in very strong or
stronger than people expect, which leads me to believe that
people are underestimating the strength of recovery”, said Jamie
Cox, Managing Partner at Harris Financial Group in Richmond,
Virginia.

 (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; additional reporting by
Sagarika Jaisinghani, Sruthi Shankar and Shashank Nayar in
Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Dan Grebler)
 ((Echo.wang@thomsonreuters.com;))