US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq at all-time highs on COVID-19 treatment hopes

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* Apple extends rally, set to cross $500 per share
* Four-day Republican National Convention set to begin
* Indexes up: Dow 0.46%, S&P 0.79%, Nasdaq 1.30%

(Updates to market open)
By Medha Singh
Aug 24 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq scaled new
heights on Monday, boosted by technology mega-caps and U.S.
approval for the emergency use of blood plasma in treating
COVID-19 patients.
The moves come ahead of the Republican National Convention,
where President Donald Trump will be nominated to lead his party
for four more years, kicking off the final sprint to Nov. 3
Election Day.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision to use
antibody-rich plasma from recovered patients was hailed by Trump
and came a day after he accused it of impeding the rollout of
treatments for political reasons. The World Health Organization, however, was cautious about
endorsing the treatment, citing "low quality" evidence that it
works. Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 2.7% to cross $500 per share for
the first time, providing the biggest boost to the three main
stock indexes.
Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O and Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOG.O that along with
Apple represent nearly a quarter of the S&P 500's market
capitalization, climbed between 0.9% and 3.5%.
Consumer discretionary .SPLRCD , technology .SPLRCT and
communication services .SPLRCL led gains among the major S&P
sectors.
Further aiding sentiment was a report the Trump
administration is considering fast-tracking an experimental
COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L and
Oxford University for use in the United States before election.
"Everyone is focused on the same thing and that's
eradicating the virus, whether it's through treatment, but
preferably from vaccines," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at
Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
"That is the key to unlocking the economy because all the
timulus aid and liquidity is there. We just have to enable
people to get back to normalcy and the global economy can boom."
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record levels on
Friday, wrapping up four weeks of gains on bets that technology
focused companies will emerge stronger from the pandemic and the
economy will return to growth on continued monetary and fiscal
support.
The Dow, however, is still about 5% below its February peak.
Meanwhile, the next phase of coronavirus government aid
remained elusive as top Democrats and Republicans continued to
blame each other for stalled talks on the legislation.
A key event this week would be the address by Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole
symposium, where he will talk on the monetary policy framework
review.
At 9:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 127.30 points, or 0.46%, at 28,057.63, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 26.80 points, or 0.79%, at 3,423.96. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 146.54 points, or 1.30%, at 11,458.34.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.12-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.43-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 39 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 61 new highs and 13 new lows.