US STOCKS-Wall Street at record high on trade optimism, Apple boost

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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 0.61%, S&P 0.47%, Nasdaq 0.53%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks hit record highs on Thursday
as Middle East tensions eased, optimism about a U.S.-China trade
deal firmed and several brokerages boosted price targets on
high-profile companies.
Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 1.4% 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. Technology stocks .SPLRCT rose 0.66%, but the top gainer
was the financial index .SPSY , up 0.72%, after bullish
brokerage comments on Citigroup Inc C.N and Goldman Sachs
Group Inc GS.N .
After a wobbly start to the new year on fears of an all-out
conflict in the Middle East, nerves eased as Washington and
Tehran looked to defuse the crisis after Iran's retaliatory
attack following the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general.
"We've got an easing in geopolitical tensions which is
supporting risk assets," said Paul Danis, chief global
strategist at wealth manager Brewin Dolphin.
"Trump is focused on the (2020 U.S. presidential) election
and he wants to avoid an escalation (with Iran) that would push
oil price higher and hurt the voters."
In another support to stocks, China's commerce ministry said
Vice Premier Liu He will sign a Phase 1 deal in Washington next
week. President Donald 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. At 12:51 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 174.91 points, or 0.61%, at 28,920.00, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 15.35 points, or 0.47%, at 3,268.40 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 48.51 points, or 0.53%, at 9,177.75.
Among the weak spots was the department store operator
Kohl's Corp KSS.N , which slid 9.2% after reporting lower
holiday season sales and warned 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 11.3% 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
Refinitiv IBES data.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.27-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 75 new 52-week highs and no new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 140 new highs and 10 new lows.