US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq hit new highs as chips rally on trade optimism

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* U.S.-China 'very close' to trade deal - report
* Trade-sensitive chip stocks surge
* Tiffany jumps after $16.2 bln buyout offer from LVMH
* TD Ameritrade rises on $26 bln deal with Charles Schwab
* Indexes rise: Dow 0.46%, S&P 0.62%, Nasdaq 1.17%

(Updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 25 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes hit
record highs on Monday, as a report that the United States and
China were nearing a trade truce sparked a rally in Apple and
semiconductor stocks, with sentiment also buoyed by a raft of
blockbuster deals.
Gains in trade-sensitive chip stocks, including Applied
Materials Inc AMAT.O and Lam Research Corp LRCX.O , helped
lift the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX 2.27% after a
Chinese state-backed tabloid said Beijing and Washington were
"very close" to an initial pact. That added to optimism from comments over the weekend by a
top U.S. official that an agreement was still possible by the
end of the year, dispelling fears that the negotiations could
carry on into 2020. Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 1.3% and was the top boost to the
S&P and Nasdaq, while it provided the second-biggest support to
the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average.
"The mood is pretty positive at this point," said Scott
Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg,
Florida.
Gains on Monday were broad-based, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq
.IXIC firming over 1.1% and eight of the 11 major S&P 500
sectors higher. The technology sector .SPLRCT gained the most
on the benchmark index, rising 1.25%.
"You got mergers today, which are typically positive for the
market, and I think you still have some optimism that there's
going to be a trade deal," Brown said.
Tiffany & Co TIF.N jumped 6% and was the biggest gainer on
the S&P 500 as the luxury jeweler agreed to a sweetened $16.2
billion deal with France's LVMH LVMH.PA . U.S. discount brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp AMTD.O
was up 6.4% after larger rival Charles Schwab Corp SCHW.N said
it would buy the company in an all-stock deal valued at about
$26 billion. Schwab rose 1.3%.
EBay Inc EBAY.O gained 1.4% after the e-commerce major
said it would sell ticketing unit StubHub to ticket reseller
Viagogo for $4.05 billion in cash. Trade deal hopes and robust third-quarter corporate earnings
have helped Wall Street's main indexes scale record levels this
month.
At 11:43 a.m. ET, the Dow .DJI was up 128.17 points, or
0.46%, at 28,003.79, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 19.16 points, or
0.62%, at 3,129.45 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 99.90
points at 8,619.78.
Among other stocks, Nvidia Corp NVDA.O rose 4.8% and was
the top gainer on the chip index as Morgan Stanley upgraded its
shares to "overweight" from "equal weight". Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.22-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 3.57-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 100 new highs and 40 new lows.