US STOCKS-Wall St higher as Fed's Powell says economy in 'good shape'

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* Powell says 'sustained expansion' likely for U.S. economy
* Disney top boost to Dow as Disney+ reaches 10 mln sign-ups
* Alibaba slips on planned $13.4 bln Hong Kong listing
* Indexes up: Dow 0.26%, S&P 0.16%, Nasdaq 0.11%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the
domestic economy was in good shape and the central bank saw a
"sustained expansion" ahead.
This helped ease nerves on Wall Street which opened lower
after President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered no new details
on trade negotiations with China. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and Nasdaq .IXIC had hit new
record levels in the run up to Trump's speech, but ended the
session off their highs following his address.
Powell's comments come after the Fed lowered borrowing costs
three times this year to cushion the world's largest economy
from a global slowdown. He said the full impact of the interest
rate cuts were yet to be felt, as he testified before the
Congress.
Meanwhile, data showed U.S. consumer prices rebounded more
than expected in October and underlying inflation picked up. "There's still enough gas in the tank to keep the economy
moving," said Jeff Kravetz, regional investment director at U.S.
Bank's private wealth management unit.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher led by gains
in defensive names such as utilities .SPLRCU , real estate
.SPLRCR and consumer staples .SPLRCS , indicating investor
caution.
An impeachment inquiry on President Donald Trump, as well as
geopolitical tensions including the escalating anti-government
protests in Hong Kong are factors that investors are keeping a
close eye on.
The three major U.S. stock indexes have had a solid start to
this month on the back of a strong corporate earnings season and
hopes of a trade deal.
"Earnings are good, rates are low, the consumer is happy —
all of those provide a pretty solid backdrop for markets to
scale even higher," Kravetz said.
A 4.4% jump in shares of Walt Disney Co DIS.N boosted the
blue-chip Dow Jones index as the entertainment company said its
newly launched streaming service Disney+ reached 10 million
sign-ups in a day. Shares of Netflix Inc NFLX.O fell 2% on the news.
At 1:09 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 71.97 points, or 0.26%, at 27,763.46, while the S&P 500
.SPX was up 5.01 points, or 0.16%, at 3,096.85. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 9.73 points, or 0.11%, at 8,495.83.
Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N slipped 2.2% as
the Chinese e-commerce giant revealed plans to launch a Hong
Kong share sale to raise up to $13.4 billion. SmileDirectClub Inc SDC.O slumped 18.3% as the teeth
alignment company posted a bigger quarterly loss and pointed
towards more losses for the year. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.14-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 20 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 65 new highs and 96 new lows.