* Weekly jobless claims fall from over two-year high
* Conagra soars on quarterly results
* Micron rises after signaling 2020 recovery
* Indexes up: Dow 0.47%, S&P 0.44%, Nasdaq 0.6%
(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline, adds NEW YORK to
dateline)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes
resumed their rally with fresh records on Thursday as U.S.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an initial U.S.-China
trade deal would be signed in early January.
The benchmark S&P 500 hit a sixth straight record high, its
longest streak since January 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average and the Nasdaq also touched new highs.
Mnuchin's comments bolstered the optimism that has carried
U.S. stocks higher since a trade agreement was announced last
week. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Mnuchin said the
agreement had already been put down on paper and translated, and
it would not be subject to renegotiation. The comments relieved some concerns that disagreements
between Washington and Beijing could once again keep the trade
deal from being finalized, said Brent Schutte, chief investment
strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management in
Milwaukee.
"The political risk is seeping out of the market," he said.
Further boosting optimism around the strength of the U.S.
economy and labor market, data on Thursday showed the number of
Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropping
from more than a two-year high last week.
The market shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump's
impeachment, as the Republican-controlled Senate is widely
expected not to remove him from office. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 131.66 points,
or 0.47%, to 28,370.94, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 13.92 points,
or 0.44%, to 3,205.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
53.17 points, or 0.6%, to 8,880.91.
Conagra Brands Inc CAG.N shares jumped 17.2% after the
Slim Jim maker beat quarterly sales and profit estimates.
Conagra's results also lifted other packaged food makers and
helped the S&P 500 consumer staples index .SPLRCS advance
0.7%.
Micron Technology Inc MU.O shares gained 3.3% after the
chipmaker signaled a recovery in its business in 2020 and said
it had received licenses to supply some products to Huawei.
Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O shares rose 2.7% after Barclays
upgraded its rating on the networking equipment company's stock.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.64-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.49-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 38 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 118 new highs and 33 new lows.
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