US STOCKS-Wall St gains as investors weigh stimulus against shutdown

* Abbott top gainer among S&P 500 components
* Cruise operators slump after brokerage cuts PTs
* JPMorgan sees real U.S. GDP falling 10% in Q1
* Energy index only major sector down
* Healthcare sector among biggest boosts
* Indexes up: Dow 0.38%, S&P 0.99%, Nasdaq 1.25%

(Adds details; Updates to open)
By Uday Sampath Kumar and Medha Singh
March 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Monday as President
Donald Trump followed last week's massive fiscal stimulus
package by extending his stay-at-home guidelines, leaving
investors hopeful that the economic impact of the coronavirus
could still be contained.
A record $2.2 trillion in aid and unprecedented policy
easing from the Federal Reserve helped the S&P 500 .SPX post
its biggest weekly percentage gain in over a decade last week,
and the Dow Jones .DJI its best since 1938.
However, all three major stock indexes fell more than 3% on
Friday after the United States overtook China as the country
with the most number of coronavirus cases.
The crisis has so far knocked $7 trillion off the value of
S&P 500 companies and without any clarity on how long it will
take to quell the outbreak, Wall Street's main indicators of
future volatility remain at high levels.
"Massive monetary and fiscal spending is giving investors
just enough breathing room to figure out the extent of the
economic damage done," said Stephen Innes, a markets strategist
at AxiCorp.
"Prices are tentatively stabilizing and risk is turning back
on again as market makers are back replenishing their shopping
list of go-to equities."
Trump on Sunday dropped a hotly criticized plan to get the
economy up and running again by mid-April after White House
health experts argued strongly to extend the stay-at-home order
to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 disease. JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N said on Saturday it expected
real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) to fall 10% in the first
quarter and plunge 25% in the second quarter.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX fell 3 points on Monday,
but was still near levels far above those in 2018 and 2019.
"Until we've got some evidence that can help deal with the
virus, it's probably more choppy markets ahead," said Noah
Hamman, chief executive office of AdvisorShares in Bethesda,
Maryland.
At 9:52 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 83.28 points, or 0.38%, at 21,720.06, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 25.18 points, or 0.99%, at 2,566.65 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 93.46 points, or 1.25%, at 7,595.84.
Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, only the energy index was
in the red as U.S. crude oil prices fell below $20 for the first
time in 18 years. O/R
The healthcare sector was the second-biggest boost to the
benchmark index as progress on coronavirus vaccines and tests
being developed by Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N and Abbott
Laboratories ABT.N lifted their shares by about 4% and 10%,
respectively. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH.N , Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd RCL.N and Carnival Corp CCL.N were again the top
decliners after Berenberg slashed its price targets on cruise
operators by about a third. Declining issues almost matched advancers on both the NYSE
and the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded four new highs and eight new lows.