US STOCKS-Dow, S&P 500 edge higher; stimulus in focus

* NYSE FANG+TM index hits record high
* Coty drops as demand for makeup products dwindles
* Take-Two tumbles as quarterly sales fall
* Indexes: Dow gains 0.12%, S&P adds 0.03%, Nasdaq up 0.26%

(Adds late-afternoon prices)
By Herbert Lash
Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 were little
changed on Tuesday after a six-day winning streak as investors
rotated out of large-cap tech names into other sectors that
likely will benefit from President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9
trillion stimulus bill.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit an all-time high for the fifth
consecutive session on early gains in Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc AAPL. ,
which later turned lower amid a shift in portfolio allocations.
The NYSE FANG+TM index .NYFANG , which includes Facebook
FB.O , Netflix NFLX.O and Tesla TSLA.O , rose 1.4% to an
all-time high.
With the number of COVID-19 cases declining and expectations
the stimulus package with be approved in Congress, investors are
hard-pressed to find significant negatives, said Michael James,
managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los
Angeles.
"You're not seeing money coming out of the market and going
into cash," James said. "You're seeing money coming out of one
sector and being rotated into another sector to maintain an
overall long bias."
At 2:46PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
38.07 points, or 0.12%, to 31,423.83, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
1.31 points, or 0.03%, to 3,916.9 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 36.77 points, or 0.26%, to 14,024.41.
Largely upbeat corporate earnings, along with monetary and
fiscal support, have powered the major U.S. stock indexes to
record highs. But analysts caution against risks from new
coronavirus variants and any glitches in vaccine rollouts.
"The backdrop is largely positive for stocks and I'm not
sure there could be a better backdrop for risk assets in the
near to intermediate term," said William Herrmann, co-founder
and managing partner at Wilshire Phoenix in New York City.
The energy sector .SPNY , among those that led the recent
rally, shed nearly 1.0%, while communication services .SPLRCL
added about 0.4%.
Data last week showing slower-than-expected jobs growth in
the labor market underscored the need for more government aid to
blunt the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden has said.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate continue to try to find a way
to include a minimum wage increase in a comprehensive COVID-19
relief bill they aim to advance in the coming weeks, Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday. The banking index .SPXBK shed about 0.3%, tracking a fall
in U.S. Treasury yields. US/
Toymaker Mattel Inc MAT.O rose about 2.1%, while telephone
equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O slipped 0.6% ahead of
reporting earnings after market close.
Analysts forecast a fourth-quarter S&P earnings gain of
about 2.5%, a stark reversal from the 10.3% annual decline seen
at the beginning of the year, per Refinitiv.
Gucci lipstick maker Coty Inc COTY.N tumbled 16% as weak
demand for makeup products wiped millions off its quarterly
revenue. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc TTWO.O fell about 6%
after the videogame publisher posted a drop in quarterly
adjusted sales and shied away from announcing any new big
releases. Bitcoin BTC=BTSP fast approached the $50,000-mark as the
afterglow of Elon Musk-led Tesla's TSLA.O investment in the
cryptocurrency had investors reckoning it may become a
mainstream asset class for both corporations and money managers.
Cryptocurrency miner Riot Blockchain RIOT.O and Marathon
Patent Group MARA.O jumped 25% and 22%, extending their sharp
gains for the second day. Tesla's shares dropped about 2.2%.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.55-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.50-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 39 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 400 new highs and six new lows.