US STOCKS-Stimulus bets boost Wall St ahead of busy earnings week

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* Hasbro tumbles after profit miss
* Moderna up as late-stage study for COVID-19 vaccine begins
* U.S. Republicans likely to unveil $1 trillion aid proposal
* Walgreens falls as CEO to step down
* Indexes up: Dow 0.51%, S&P 0.63%, Nasdaq 1.21%

(Adds quote, details; Updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded on Monday as
investors shrugged off surging COVID-19 cases and U.S.-China
tensions, betting instead on more stimulus to revive a battered
domestic economy ahead of a week packed with quarterly earnings
reports.
Still, safe haven assets were in demand with gold prices at
record levels amid concerns over a diplomatic row between the
United States and China, escalating COVID-19 cases in southern
and western U.S. states and an unexpected rise in U.S. jobless
claims last week. GOL/ Trillions of dollars in fiscal and monetary stimulus have
been pivotal in bringing the S&P 500 to within 5% of its record
high hit in February.
Expectations are running low for any major announcements at
a two-day Federal Reserve meeting this week, but policymakers
are likely to lay the groundwork for more action in September or
in the fourth quarter, analysts said. Investors are also keeping a close watch on progress over
the next round of government aid ahead of enhanced unemployment
benefits set to expire on Friday.
U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday are expected to unveil a
$1 trillion coronavirus aid package hammered out with the White
House, which will now be negotiated with Democrats. Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Facebook Inc
FB.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose between 1.0% and 1.9%,
and were among the top boosts to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The
four FAANG companies are among the 189 S&P 500 firms expected to
report results this week.
"It's probably going to be the biggest week of the year in
terms of what people are expecting due to the impact from the
coronavirus outbreak," said Brian Pirri, principal at New
England Investment and Retirement Group in Boston.
"I don't think we're going to see a slowdown in technology.
There was some profit taking due to high valuations, but I don't
see them going away anytime soon."
Technology .SPLRCT , consumer discretionary .SPLRCS and
materials .sPLRCM sectors rose over 1.0% each. Bank stocks
.SPXBK , which tend to weaken when the economic outlook
darkens, lagged with their 1.4% fall.
At 10:56 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 134.48 points, or 0.51%, at 26,604.37, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 20.35 points, or 0.63%, at 3,235.98. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 125.71 points, or 1.21%, at 10,488.89.
Investors will get the first glimpse of the second-quarter
U.S. GDP report on Thursday, which is likely to show the economy
contracted by a record 34.1%.
Moderna Inc MRNA.O jumped 7.6% as it started a U.S.
government-backed late-stage trial to assess its COVID-19
vaccine candidate in about 30,000 adults. Hasbro Inc HAS.O dropped 6.5% after the toymaker missed
quarterly results estimates, hit by production shutdowns due to
coronavirus lockdowns. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O fell 2.7% on news its
Chief Executive Officer Stefano Pessina has decided to step
down. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.60-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.55-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 44 new highs and 15 new lows.