US STOCKS-Wall St notches records on trade optimism, Apple gains

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* Easing geopolitical tensions spur risk-on mood
* Apple, banks rally on positive brokerage comments
* Kohl's slides on lower holiday season sales
* Indexes up: Dow 0.7%, S&P 0.7%, Nasdaq 0.8%

(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes
registered record closing highs on Thursday as optimism about a
U.S.-China trade deal firmed and as Apple and other market
heavyweights posted strong gains.
Also helping the market were easing concerns over tensions
between the United States and Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump
refrained from ordering more military action, and Iran's foreign
minister said the missile strikes on Iraqi bases that house U.S.
forces had "concluded" Tehran's response. Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 2.1% on twin support from data
showing iPhone sales jumped more than 18% in China in December,
as well as a price target hike by Jefferies on expectations of a
strong finish to 2019. The S&P 500 technology
sector .SPLRCT rose 1.1%, the top gainer among sectors.
The financial index .SPSY ended up 0.77% after bullish
brokerage comments on Citigroup Inc C.N and Goldman Sachs
Group Inc GS.N ahead of their earnings next week.
On trade, China's commerce ministry said Vice Premier Liu He
will sign a Phase 1 deal in Washington next week. Trump said his administration will start negotiating the
Phase 2 trade agreement soon but that he might wait to complete
any agreement until after November's presidential election.
"Some of the things that have been worrying the market have
gotten pushed to the side of the table," said Peter Tuz,
president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville,
Virginia.
But also, he said, "in the first part of the year, there's
always a lot of money that finds its way into the market."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 211.81 points,
or 0.74%, to 28,956.9, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 21.65 points,
or 0.67%, to 3,274.7 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
74.18 points, or 0.81%, to 9,203.43.
Investors have been closely monitoring tensions between the
United States and Iran after the U.S. killing of a top Iranian
general last week and Iran's retaliatory measures this
week. Among the day's decliners was the department store operator
Kohl's Corp KSS.N , which slid 6.5% after reporting lower
holiday season sales and warning of full-year earnings coming in
at the bottom end of an already lowered forecast. Smaller rival J.C. Penney Co Inc JCP.N tumbled 10.8% after
disappointing same-store sales numbers.
With the fourth-quarter earnings season kicking off next
week, analysts expect profits for S&P 500 companies to drop 0.6%
in their second consecutive quarterly decline, according to IBES
data from Refinitiv.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.35-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.40-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 78 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 152 new highs and 14 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.30 billion shares, compared
with the 7.06 billion-share average for the full session over
the last 20 trading days.