US STOCKS-Wall St hits fresh highs on trade deal boost

* Trade-exposed tech stocks jump
* Boeing slips on 737 MAX production concerns
* Healthcare sector propped up by UnitedHealth, Amgen
* Indexes up: Dow 0.48%, S&P 0.79%, Nasdaq 0.99%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline, adds NEW YORK to
dateline)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street hit record highs
for the third straight session on Monday as cooling trade
tensions between Washington and Beijing and upbeat economic data
from China boosted investor sentiment.
U.S. stocks continued their ascent as Friday's announcement
of an interim trade deal between the world's two biggest
economies lifted prospects for the global economy. Though growth
in China is expected to continue moderating, the trade
developments have brightened the country's economic outlook,
several analysts have said. Adding to such optimism, data released early on Monday
showed that China's industrial output and retail sales growth
accelerated in November.
The U.S.-China trade deal suspended tariffs scheduled to go
into effect on Dec. 15 on a variety of consumer products,
including Apple Inc's AAPL.O iPhone. Apple shares rose 1.8%
and provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 .SPX and Nasdaq
.IXIC .
Shares of chipmakers, among the most trade-sensitive stocks,
also rose. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX gained
1.4%.
"It validates the best-case scenario people were expecting,"
said Oliver Pursche, chief market strategist at Bruderman Asset
Management in New York, of the removal of tariffs.
Three interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year
and mostly encouraging U.S. economic data have also helped push
Wall Street stocks to record levels. The benchmark S&P 500 index
.SPX is up more than 27% this year and on track for its
highest annual percentage gain in six years.
"We are seeing themes work together to really drive some
confidence in the year end," said Peter Kenny, founder, Kenny's
Commentary LLC and Strategic Board Solutions LLC in New York.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 135.29 points,
or 0.48%, to 28,270.67, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 25.08 points,
or 0.79%, to 3,193.88 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
86.86 points, or 0.99%, to 8,821.74.
The S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC rose 1.2% as shares of
UnitedHealth Group UNH.N and Amgen Inc AMGN.O jumped after
Goldman Sachs added both companies to its "conviction list."
UnitedHealth shares rose 2.3%, and Amgen shares moved 3.0%
higher.
Boeing Co BA.N shares fell 3.7%, limiting gains on the
Dow, on reports that the planemaker was considering whether to
cut or halt production of its grounded 737 MAX aircraft.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.52-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, a 1.84-to-1 ratio favored
advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 76 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 213 new highs and 47 new lows.