US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq at record as vaccine hope eclipses poor data

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* Boeing jumps on Ryanair's 737 MAX jet orders
* Jobless claims fall after rising for two straight weeks
* Goldman Sachs raises Tesla to "buy"
* 3M ticks higher on 2,900 jobs cut news
* Indexes up: Dow 0.4%, S&P 0.3%, Nasdaq 0.7%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Shriya Ramakrishnan and Medha Singh
Dec 3 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq touched all-time
highs on Thursday as hopes of a swift COVID-19 vaccine-driven
recovery and economic stimulus eased immediate worries about
rising coronavirus cases and dismal economic data.
Boeing Co BA.N jumped about 6% after budget airline
Ryanair RYA.I ordered 75 additional 737 MAX jets with a
catalogue value of $9 billion, throwing a commercial lifeline to
the embattled U.S. planemaker. Heavyweight Tesla Inc's TSLA.O 3% gain provided the
biggest support for the Nasdaq after Goldman Sachs upgraded the
stock to "buy" in the run-up to the electric-car maker's
addition to the S&P 500. The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless
benefits fell last week, but remained extraordinarily high at
712,000 while a separate survey showed U.S. services industry
activity slowed to a six-month low in November.
"As long as the timeline for the vaccine roll out continues
to make sense investors are willing to look past near-term
weakness in the economy and a growing number of COVID cases that
could very well grow over the next several weeks," said Michael
Sheldon, executive director and chief investment officer of RDM
Financial Group at Hightower.
There were also early signs that a $908 billion bipartisan
proposal could be gaining traction as a negotiating tool, even
though Republicans and Democrats in Congress remained unable to
smooth out differences over the next coronavirus relief package.
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention warned on Wednesday the country will face the
grimmest health crisis yet over the next few months.

At 10:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 119.10 points, or 0.40%, to 30,002.89, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 10.22 points, or 0.28%, to 3,679.23 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 80.29 points, or 0.65%, to 12,429.65.
Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with
industrial .SPLRCI and real estate .SPLRCR sectors posting
the sharpest percentage gains.
Financials .SPSY , utilities .SPLRCU and consumer staples
.SPLRCS were in the red.
Progress in developing a working COVID-19 vaccine before the
end of the year has driven the Wall Street's main indexes to
record levels recently.
Industrial conglomerate 3M Co's MMM.N shares gained 0.4%
as the company unveiled plans to cut about 2,900 jobs globally
and scale back on investments in slower-growing markets as part
of a restructuring. Cloud-security provider Zscaler Inc ZS.O advanced 11% as
it reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and
adjusted profit. Waddell & Reed Financial WDR.N surged 49%, extending gains
from the previous session, after Australia's Macquarie Group
MQG.AX announced a deal to buy the wealth manager for $1.7
billion. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.1-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.7-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and no new low while
the Nasdaq recorded 192 new highs and six new lows.