US STOCKS-Wall St climbs on stimulus, dovish Fed bets ahead of earnings rush

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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 0.41%, S&P 0.58%, Nasdaq 1.32%

(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday after a
two-day slide, as investors shrugged off surging COVID-19 cases
and U.S.-China tensions, betting instead on more stimulus and a
dovish signal from the Federal Reserve to revive a battered
domestic economy.
Still, safe haven assets were in demand with gold prices
notching a record high 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 analysts expect
policymakers to lay the groundwork for more action in September
or in the fourth quarter. 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. "The market is looking at this as a nice bridge of one to
one-and-a-half trillion dollars to get us to the period in which
we either have a treatment, or more likely a full vaccine toward
the end of the year," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at
Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Facebook Inc
FB.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose between 1.8% and 2.6%,
and were among the top boosts to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. They
are among the 189 S&P 500 companies expected to report results
this week.
Technology .SPLRCT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCS
sectors rose over 1% each, while bank stocks .SPXBK , which
tend to weaken when the economic outlook darkens, lagged with
their 1.6% fall.
At 9:56 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 108.29 points, or 0.41%, at 26,578.18, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 18.55 points, or 0.58%, at 3,234.18. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 136.34 points, or 1.32%, at 10,499.52.
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 34% in the three-month period.
Moderna Inc MRNA.O jumped 5.7% 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 8% after the toymaker missed
estimates for quarterly earnings and revenue, hit by production
shutdowns due to coronavirus lockdowns. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O fell 1.8% on news its
Chief Executive Officer Stefano Pessina has decided to step
down. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.35-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.78-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 34 new highs and 11 new lows.