US STOCKS-Renewed hopes of trade deal push Wall Street higher

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Wall Street set to snap 3-day losing streak
* J&J up as new tests show no asbestos in baby powder
* Alphabet rises as Sundar Pichai named CEO
* Indexes up: Dow 0.66%, S&P 500 0.63%, Nasdaq 0.53%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 4 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to break a three-day
losing streak on Wednesday, following a report that the United
States and China were moving closer to signing a "phase one"
trade deal.
Washington and Beijing were close to agreeing on the amount
of tariffs to be rolled back, Bloomberg reported, a day after
President Donald Trump said the deal might have to wait until
after the U.S. presidential election in November 2020.
"I think the President wants and needs a trade deal before
the election, not after," said Brent Schutte, chief investment
strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. "He
(Trump) needs to have something to take to the electorate in
2020."
A record run for the three main indexes, fueled by hopes of
an interim trade deal in the near term, came to a halt at the
end of last week as political risks heightened between the two
countries over Hong Kong.
The back-and-forth on trade has also made investors wary
after the final month of 2018 was the worst December on Wall
Street since the Great Depression. Tariff-sensitive semiconductor companies also rose, lifting
the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX up 1.3%. The broader
technology sector .SPLRCT gained 0.3%.
Markets shrugged off a survey that showed U.S. private
employers added the fewest jobs in six months in November, with
focus now turning towards the Labor Department's more
comprehensive non-farm payrolls data due Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 180.62
points, or 0.66%, at 27,683.43, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 19.45
points, or 0.63%, at 3,112.65 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
was up 45.21 points, or 0.53%, at 8,565.86.
All the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with
energy stocks .SPNY gaining the most as oil prices surged 4%.
O/R
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose 1.8% after it said Sundar
Pichai, who has run its core Google search business since 2015,
would take the reins as CEO of the parent company. Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N gained 1.6% after it said recent
tests showed Johnson's Baby Powder was free of asbestos.
Expedia Group Inc EXPE.O jumped 6.2%, the most on the S&P
500, after its chief executive officer and finance head
resigned. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.85-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 15 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 30 new lows.