US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq scale record highs as Netflix soars; Biden takes office

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* FAANGs jump after Netflix results beat estimates
* Morgan Stanley gains as profit races past estimates
* Indexes up: Dow 0.63%, S&P 1.13%, Nasdaq 1.73%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Devik Jain and Medha Singh
Jan 20 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit all-time
highs on Wednesday as Joe Biden became the 46th U.S. president,
while solid results from Netflix sparked a rally in shares of
stay-at-home winners.
Shares of the world's largest streaming service NFLX.O
surged 14% to add more than $30 billion to its market
capitalization after it said it would no longer need to borrow
billions of dollars to finance its TV shows and movies.
The rest of the FAANG group, due to report results in the
coming weeks, jumped with Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc
AMZN.O , Apple AAPL.O and Google-parent Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O rising between 2% and 5%.
The NYSE FANG+TM index .NYFANG gained 3.8%.
"People are back to looking at technology as a part of the
market that can do well whether COVID stays a problem or is
eventually pushed to the side," said Rick Meckler, partner at
Cherry Lane Investments, a family investment office in New
Vernon, New Jersey.
Biden will waste little time turning the page on the Trump
era, aides said, signing a raft of 15 executive actions in the
afternoon on issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the
economy to climate change. The Dow has gained about 57% since Donald Trump assumed
office on Jan. 20, 2017, which compares with a 72% jump in the
first term of the Obama administration.
Optimism about a COVID-19 vaccine as well as bets on a
bigger pandemic relief plan under a Democrat-controlled Congress
have helped Wall Street's main indexes scale record highs in the
past few months, with the blue-chip Dow jumping about 17% since
the presidential elections in November.
Eight of the 11 S&P sectors advanced in afternoon trading,
with technology .SPLRCT , communication services .SPLRCL and
consumer discretionary .SPLRCD among the biggest gainers.
Wrapping up results from major U.S. lenders, Morgan Stanley
MS.N edged higher after its quarterly profit blew past
estimates driven by strength in its trading
business. The broader banks index .SPXBK , however, shed about 1.6%,
declining for the third day.
With stock market valuations sitting close to a 20-year
high, investors are hoping corporate results and profit outlooks
will help them determine to what degree the valuations are
justified.
At 11:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 195.20 points, or 0.63%, to 31,125.72, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 43.10 points, or 1.13%, to 3,842.01 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 227.78 points, or 1.73%, to 13,424.96.
Procter & Gamble Co PG.N raised its full-year sales
forecast for a second time as it benefited from sustained
coronavirus-driven demand for cleaning products. Its shares,
however, slipped about 1.4% after it warned that the pace of
sales might slow as vaccines roll out. Group Inc UNH.N slid 0.3% after the health
insurer's quarterly profit slumped nearly 38%, weighed down by
costs related to its programs to make COVID-19 testing and
treatment more accessible for its customers. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.8-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.1-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 51 new 52-week highs and no new low while
the Nasdaq recorded 456 new highs and 10 new lows.