US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq reach record closing highs; Chinese workers return

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* Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet lead indexes higher
* Tesla gains after Shanghai factory resumes production
* Simon Properties to buy Taubman Centers for $3.6 bln
* Indexes up: Dow 0.60%, S&P 0.73%, Nasdaq 1.13%

(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
closed at record highs on Monday as Chinese workers and
factories slowly returned to business following a Lunar New Year
holiday that was protracted by the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
All three major U.S. stock averages advanced in a
broad-based rally, boosted by index leaders Amazon.com AMZN.O ,
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O .
Worries over the coronavirus kept market participants on
edge, with the death toll rising to 908 and the World Health
Organization (WHO) warning that new cases outside of China could
be "the spark that becomes a bigger fire." But generally upbeat earnings, positive economic data and
China's recent stimulus have attracted buyers to the U.S.
equities market.
"The money that China injected into its economy is finding
its way around the world and you have a "buy anything and
everything' mentality," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at
Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. "It's an index buy and
it's growth verses value."
"The U.S. is seeing some economic growth," Nolte added.
"We're the cleanest shirt in the dirty laundry, globally, and it
gives investors another reason to buy U.S. stocks."
Tesla Inc's TSLA.O stock rose 3.1% after its Shanghai
factory resumed production, and iPhone maker Foxconn re-started
a key plant in China with 10% of its workforce. That is cold comfort for Apple, whose iPhone sales in China
could plunge by as much as 50% due to the virus, according to
analysts. The fast-spreading coronavirus has now caused more deaths
than the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, and has affected a broad range
of companies and sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 174.31 points,
or 0.6%, to 29,276.82, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 24.39 points,
or 0.73%, to 3,352.1 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
107.88 points, or 1.13%, to 9,628.39.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 all but energy
.SPNY ended the session in the black, with technology
.SPLRCT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD shares posting
the largest percentage gains.
Fourth-quarter reporting season is approaching the final
reel, with 324 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported.
Of those, 70.7% have beat Street estimates, according to
Refinitiv data.
Analysts now see aggregate year-on-year fourth-quarter
earnings growth of 2.3%, a reversal from the 0.3% decline
analysts projected on Jan 1.
Mall operator Taubman Centers Inc TCO.N jumped 53.2% on
news that it would be bought by larger rival Simon Property
Group Inc SPG.N in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. Simon
Property Group's shares inched up 1.4%.
Eli Lilly LLY.N dropped 0.6% after experimental
Alzheimer's treatments from the U.S. pharmaceutical firm and
Switzerland's Roche ROG.S failed to halt the disease.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.50-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.46-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 46 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 105 new highs and 96 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.60 billion shares, compared
with the 7.66 billion average over the last 20 trading days.