CORRECTED-US STOCKS-Wall St rebounds as investors buy the dip; stimulus measures in focus

(Corrects paragraph 7 to clarify Powell's comments were made on
Friday)
* Indexes up: Dow 2.88%, S&P 2.56%, Nasdaq 2.55%
* Tech sector biggest boost, Apple up 6%
* Forty Seven Inc hits record high on $4.9 bln offer

By Ambar Warrick and Sanjana Shivdas
March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes rose sharply on
Monday, prompted by bargain hunting and on reassurances by
central banks that they stood ready to counter any economic
impact from the coronavirus.
Technology stocks .SPLRCT were the biggest boost to the
S&P 500 .SPX , with Apple Inc AAPL.O jumping 6.2% as it
recovered from a more than two-month low.
All three indexes were set for their best day in nearly two
months in volatile trading.
At 13:07 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 730.64 points, or 2.88%, at 26,140.00, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 75.68 points, or 2.56%, at 3,029.90. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 218.14 points, or 2.55%, at 8,785.51.
Wall Street had marked its biggest weekly decline since the
2008 financial crisis, sinking into correction territory on
Thursday amid fears of a recession resulting from the epidemic.
"The selloff was so fierce last week that you do have some
buy-the-dip investors emerging," said Brent Schutte, chief
investment strategist, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management
Company.
Wall Street's drop earlier in the day followed data that
showed Chinese factory activity contracted at its worst pace
ever in February. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on
Friday the central bank would act as required to provide
support. The news led to a rise in bets in favor of an interest rate
cut, with traders seeing a 100% chance of a 50 basis point rate
cut at the Fed's March meeting, according to CME Group's
FedWatch tool. "The Fed can cut rates all it wants, that is not going to
put a person in a factory producing a product if that person is
quarantined," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading
and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
"I don't think (monetary policy) solves the problem... This
particular one is both supply and demand, it will help but it
won't fix the problem."
The Institute for Supply Management said domestic
manufacturing activity barely expanded last month due to supply
issues stemming from the virus outbreak. Cancer drug developer Forty Seven Inc FTSV.O jumped 61.5%
after larger peer Gilead Sciences GILD.O made a $4.9 billion
offer for the firm. Gilead rose 6.5% . Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.40-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and 17 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 22 new highs and 114 new lows.