US STOCKS-Indexes hit closing records amid further trade deal optimism

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* Philadelphia Semiconductor index hits record high
* Under Armour drops on federal probe, revenue outlook cut
* McDonald's falls after CEO dismissal
* Indexes up: Dow 0.4%, S&P 0.4%, Nasdaq 0.6%

(Updates with closing prices)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - All three major U.S. stock
indexes posted record closing highs on Monday, extending a
recent run of gains on further hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal.
It was the second consecutive session of closing records for
the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, and the first closing record for the Dow
since July.
After U.S. officials indicated on Friday that a trade deal
with China could be signed this month, Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross said on Sunday that licenses for U.S. companies to sell
components to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL would come
"very shortly."
In May, Huawei, the world's largest telecoms equipment
provider, was put under a U.S. blacklist citing national
security concerns. Sectors considered among the most sensitive to the trade war
climbed. The S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT rose 0.6%, the
Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX hit a record high and
the S&P industrials index .SPLRCI climbed 1.2%.
Optimism about progress with China after Friday's market
highs is "making it easier for investors to continue buying and
climbing a wall of worry," said Michael James, managing director
of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
Energy shares jumped along with gains in oil prices, with
the S&P 500 energy index .SPNY rising 3.2%, while the S&P 500
financial index .SPSY climbed 0.9%, helped by shares of
Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.N after it topped expectations for
quarterly operating profit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 114.75 points,
or 0.42%, to 27,462.11, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.36 points,
or 0.37%, to 3,078.27 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
46.80 points, or 0.56%, to 8,433.20.
Last week's interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, hopes
of a trade deal and a better-than-feared October jobs growth
report have been the main catalysts of the recent rally.
Limiting the day's gains was a roughly 2.7% drop in shares
of McDonald's Corp MCD.N , which dismissed Chief Executive
Steve Easterbrook over a consensual relationship with an
employee. The third-quarter earnings season has been fairly upbeat,
with the majority of S&P 500 companies beating profit
expectations so far, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Under Armour Inc UAA.N shares fell 18.9% on Monday as the
sportswear maker lowered its full-year revenue forecast for a
second time this year, a day after it confirmed a federal probe
related to its accounting practices. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.69-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.62-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 68 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 143 new highs and 38 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.53 billion shares, compared
to the 6.55 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.