US STOCKS-Wall St gains as investors pin hope on stimulus-powered rebound

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* Investors await nonfarm payroll, factory activity data
* Boeing gains as MAX 737 test flights slated to start
* Indexes up: Dow 1.38%, S&P 0.75%, Nasdaq 0.35%

(Updates to open)
By Pawel Goraj and Devik Jain
June 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes inched up on
Monday following a sharp selloff last week, as investors clung
to hopes of a stimulus-backed economic rebound even as
coronavirus cases surged, while a jump in Boeing shares boosted
the blue-chip Dow.
The planemaker BA.N rose 7.3% after the Federal Aviation
Administration confirmed on Sunday it had approved key
certification test flights for the grounded 737 MAX that could
begin as soon as Monday. Of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-indexes, only information
technology .SPLRCT was in the red. The industrial .SPLRCI
and materials .SPLRCM sectors led gains with a jump of more
than 1.5% each.
"The market is taking a tremendous amount of comfort in the
fact that as long as we contain the virus, the economy is going
to recover very fast and you're going to see cyclical stocks
start to rally again," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at
Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX has rebounded since a
coronavirus-driven crash in March, up about 16% since April and
set for its best quarter since 1998, on a raft of U.S. fiscal
and monetary stimulus as well as improving economic data.
Data on Monday showed contracts to buy previously owned
homes rebounded by the most on record in May, suggesting the
housing market was starting to turn around. Later this week,
investors will focus on employment, consumer confidence and
manufacturing data for June.
Still, volatility has edged up since late last week as the
number of COVID-19 cases spiked, with Wall Street's fear gauge
.VIX now hovering near two-week highs.
A Reuters tally showed the death toll from the respiratory
illness topped half a million on Sunday. The BlackRock Investment Institute downgraded U.S. equities
to "neutral", citing risks of fading fiscal stimulus, an
extended epidemic as well as renewed China-U.S. tensions.
At 10:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 344.20 points, or 1.38%, at 25,359.75, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 22.65 points, or 0.75%, at 3,031.70, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 34.29 points, or 0.35%, at 9,791.51.
Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O rose 1.8% as it priced its
COVID-19 drug candidate remdesivir at $2,340 for a five-day
treatment in the United States and some other developed
countries. Coty Inc COTY.N jumped 10.8% after a report said it agreed
to buy a 20% stake in reality TV star Kim Kardashian West's
makeup brand KKW for $200 million. Facebook Inc FB.O extended declines from Friday as a
report said PepsiCo Inc PEP.O was set to join a growing number
of companies pulling ad dollars from the social media platform.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners more than 3-to-1 on
the NYSE and more than 2-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high or low, while the
Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 14 new lows.