US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow end at record highs after upbeat jobless claims data

* Weekly jobless claims fall in the latest week
* Oracle falls as revenue misses estimates
* Bumble jumps after revenue beat
* Indexes up: Dow 0.58%, S&P 1.04%, Nasdaq 2.52%

(Updates after market close)
By Karen Pierog and Herbert Lash
March 11 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow closed at
all-time highs on Thursday as worries about rising inflation
subsided, while a bigger-than-expected fall in weekly jobless
claims and the signing of a massive stimulus bill reinforced
expectations of a strong economic recovery.
Mega-cap stocks Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Facebook Inc FB.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O led the rally,
recouping losses from a recent pullback and helping the
benchmark S&P 500 surpass its Feb. 12 close of 3,934.83.
The blue-chip Dow scaled a new record for the fourth
straight session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is now less than
5% below its Feb. 12 peak after slumping over 10% to confirm a
correction at the beginning of this week.
President Joe Biden signed his $1.9 trillion stimulus bill
into law on Thursday, commemorating the one-year anniversary of
a U.S. lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic with a measure
designed to bring relief to Americans and boost the economy.
The relief package, on top of the ongoing recovery fueled by
the coronavirus vaccination rollout and fading fears of
inflation, were driving the market, said Jason Pride, chief
investment officer for private wealth at Glenmede in
Philadelphia.
While tech led Thursday's advance, there was still a
rotation into value stocks, which have outperformed high-priced
growth stocks since November.
"There is a recovery in the valuations of those companies
more impacted by the epidemic and a giveback of the valuations
of those companies that were more insulated and maybe even
perhaps benefited from the pandemic," Pride said.
"Markets are trading at valuation extremes at this point,"
he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 188.57 points,
or 0.58%, to 32,485.59, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 40.53 points,
or 1.04%, to 3,939.34 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
329.84 points, or 2.52%, to 13,398.67.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.02 billion shares, compared
with the 14.871 billion average for the full session over the
last 20 trading days.
Fewer than expected Americans filed new claims for
unemployment benefits last week as vaccinations allow more
segments of the economy to reopen. "The drop in jobless claims is another win for the week, and
a solid sign that we're making some strides toward pre-pandemic
life," said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment
strategy at E*Trade Financial.
The latest U.S. Treasury auction -- $24 billion of 30-year
bonds US30YT=RR -- did not reignite inflation concerns unlike
a weak seven-year note auction last month that helped send
yields higher, spooking markets. "That story line has dissipated a little bit," said Pride,
pointing to tame consumer prices data for February.
The S&P 500's industrials .SPLRCI and communication
services .SPLRCL sectors reached all-time highs.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX hit a two-week low at 21.45
points before ending at 21.91, a sign of easing fears over
inflation.
Coupang CPNG.N , backed by SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T ,
ended the day valued at $85 billion on Thursday after investors
in South Korea's largest e-commerce company raised around $4.6
billion in the biggest U.S. initial public offering this year.

SoftBank racked up a roughly $33 billion paper gain after
Coupang's stock soared 81% to open at $63.50, and later pared
gains to close up 40.7% at $49.25. Bumble Inc BMBL.O jumped 10.8% after it reported a
bigger-than-estimated rise in fourth-quarter revenue and said it
expected pent-up demand from people who had been avoiding dating
in person due to the pandemic. A so-called "meme" stock AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc
AMC.N gained 4.36% as the cinema chain said the rollout of
COVID-19 vaccines and the release of major movies would boost
sales this year. Oracle Corp ORCL.N slumped 6.5% as the business software
maker's cloud division reported quarterly revenue that missed
analysts' estimates on increased competition from Amazon.com and
Microsoft. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.10-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.87-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 74 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 327 new highs and eight new lows.

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