US STOCKS-Dow hits record high as Wall Street rises

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Eli Lily drops after 'mixed' data from mid-stage trial
* Carriers signal recovery in leisure bookings
* Growth stocks outperform value
* Indexes: Dow +0.22%, S&P 500 +0.20%, Nasdaq +0.47%

(Updates with details on mid-day trading)
By Noel Randewich
March 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Monday, with the
Dow hitting an intra-day record high, as investors awaited cues
from the Federal Reserve this week amid caution over rising
borrowing costs spurred by massive fiscal stimulus.
The S&P 500 was on track to close at its highest level ever,
lifted by a 1.85 rise in Apple AAPL.O .
Delta Air Lines DAL.N , Southwest Airlines LUV.N and
JetBlue Airways JBLU.N said leisure bookings are rising and
offered some of the first concrete signs that the worst may be
over for the airline industry. The S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR jumped over 3% to a
one-year high, while other travel-related stocks, including
Carnival Corp CCL.N , Wynn Resorts WYNN.O and MGM Resorts
MGM.N gained between 2% and 5%.
Most of the 11 major S&P sector indexes rose, led by
utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR , both up over 1%.
The major stock indexes on Friday logged their best week in
six after approval of a $1.9 trillion aid bill and mass
vaccinations accelerated demand for stocks expected to
outperform as the economy reopens, such as banks, energy,
materials companies.
The Russell growth index .RLG rose 0.4%, slightly
outperforming the Russell value index .RLV 's 0.1% rise in a
modest reversal of investors' recent trend away from technology
and other high-growth stocks.
"With the vaccine positive news and the stimulus, we think
there will continue to be a fair amount of rotation out of the
stay-at-home stocks," said Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments.
"We are bullish on financial services and energy coming out of
the pandemic."
At the end of Fed's two-day meeting on Wednesday,
policymakers are expected to forecast that the U.S. economy will
grow in 2021 at its fastest rate in decades while reiterating
their dovish stance for the foreseeable future. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries US10YT=RR ticked
lower to 1.60%, below its 13-month peak of 1.64% on Friday. Wall
Street has been roiled in recent weeks by a spike in
longer-dated U.S. bond yields due to fears of an increase in
inflation.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI was up 0.22% at 32,850.6 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 0.20% to 3,951.4.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.47% to 13,382.43.
Tesla rose TSLA.O 1.7% after the company added "Technoking
of Tesla" to Chief Executive Elon Musk's list of official titles
in a formal regulatory filing. Eli Lilly and Co shares LLY.N slumped 9% after a mid-stage
trial testing its experimental Alzheimer's drug led to "mixed"
results, reducing the chances for the drug's accelerated
approval, according to analysts. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.44-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.16-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 79 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 246 new highs and 10 new lows.