US STOCKS-Wall Street advances as stimulus hopes calm recession fears

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* Trump promises fiscal stimulus measures to combat virus
fears
* Energy, financial stocks rebound
* Indexes up: Dow 1.15%, S&P 1.24%, Nasdaq 1.31%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Wall Street reversed course
on Tuesday, pulling back from the brink of bear market
confirmation as bargain hunting and stimulus hopes calmed
investors' fears of recession and uncertainties surrounding the
coronavirus.
All three major indexes advanced the day after equities
markets suffered their biggest one-day losses since the 2008
financial crisis.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are now about 18% below the
closing record highs reached on Feb. 19. They would have to pass
the 20% mark to confirm a bear market.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he will take "major steps"
allay market fears by asking congress for a fiscal stimulus
package to include a payroll tax cut among other measures.
"Fiscal policy is calling the shots today," said David
Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors in New
York.
"Clearly some investors are bottom fishing, thinking
equities have dropped too much too fast," added Carter. "(But
others are) still trying to understand the probability of real
fiscal stimulus from Washington."
"There's still a lack of clarity as far as what we're going
to get," Carter added.
Additionally, market participants largely expect the U.S.
Federal Reserve to cut interest rates for the second time this
month at the conclusion of next week's two-day monetary policy
meeting in an effort to shore up the U.S. economy against
growing global uncertainties, including the coronavirus.
Global markets have been rattled in recent weeks by news of
the rapidly-spreading coronavirus, which has caused widespread
supply chain disruption, hobbled the travel industry and
prompted drastic containment measures in Italy and elsewhere.
Market uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 were exacerbated
over the weekend as Saudi Arabia and Russia scrapped their
supply pact and pledged to increase crude oil production.
But oil prices rebounded from their largest percentage drop
since the 1991 Gulf War, with front-month Brent crude LCOc1
rising 7.5% after Russia indicated it was open to talks with
OPEC. Energy stocks .SPNY began to recover from their worst
decline on record, advancing 1.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 275.22 points,
or 1.15%, to 24,126.24, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 34.01 points,
or 1.24%, to 2,780.57 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
104.01 points, or 1.31%, to 8,054.69.
Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, nine were trading in
the black, led by tech .SPLRCT and rate-sensitive financial
.SPSY shares.
Financials jumped 2.7% after suffering their worst day in
more than a decade as U.S. Treasury yields bounced off record
lows.
United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N gained 4.0% as Stifel
upgraded its shares to "buy," while Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O rose
2.0% on Cowen & Co's price target increase. Shares of Chevron Corp CVX.N and Marathon Oil Corp MRO.N
rose 3.8% and 13.2% after the oil companies and their peers
announced cost reduction efforts to combat plunging crude
prices. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.07-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.15-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 100 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 6 new highs and 548 new lows.