US STOCKS-Wall Street buys the dip as investors bet on stimulus

* Indexes surge: Dow 2.98%, S&P 500 2.40%, Nasdaq 2.30%
* Tech sector biggest boost, Apple up over 6%
* Forty Seven Inc hits record high on $4.9 bln offer

(Updates to afternoon)
By Noel Randewich
March 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street surged on Monday as
investors hunted for bargains following reassurances by central
banks that they stood ready to counter the economic impact from
the coronavirus following last week's steep sell-off.
Apple AAPL.O bounced back from a two-year low to jump 6.3%
and lift the S&P 500 more than any other company.
The S&P 500 was on track for its best one-day gain in over a
year. That followed the U.S. stock market's worst week since the
2008 financial crisis, sinking into correction territory on
Thursday due to fears of a recession resulting from the
epidemic.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday that
Japan's central bank would take necessary steps to stabilize
financial markets. That followed a similar move by Fed Chair
Jerome Powell last Friday. "We can shrug off an economic downturn, but if it starts to
spill into companies' capacity to pay their debts, then that
creates deeper problems. But it seems to me like the central
banks are linking arms to find a way to insulate the credit
markets from economic uncertainty," said Jack Ablin, Chief
Investment Officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors in Chicago.
Traders see a 100% chance of a 50 basis point rate cut at
the Fed's March meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
At 2:06 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 2.98% at 26,167.45 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX surged
2.40% to 3,025.12.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 2.3% to 8,764.71.
"The sell-off 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.
The Institute for Supply Management said domestic
manufacturing activity barely expanded last month due to supply
issues stemming from the virus outbreak. "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."
Cancer drug developer Forty Seven Inc FTSV.O jumped 61%
after larger peer Gilead Sciences GILD.O made a $4.9 billion
offer for the firm. Gilead rose 6.7%. Surgical mask maker Alpha Pro Tech Ltd APT.N tumbled 23%
but remains up 360% year-to-date.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.08-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 17 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 121 new lows.