US STOCKS-Wall Street climbs on mega mergers, vaccine hopes

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* Nvidia climbs on $40 bln deal for chip designer Arm
* Pfizer, BioNTech expand late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial
* Oracle surges on partnership with TikTok parent
* Indexes up: Dow 1.23%, S&P 1.64%, Nasdaq 2.23%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
Sept 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes climbed on
Monday on a boost from technology stocks while signs of progress
in developing a COVID-19 vaccine and a spurt of multi-billion
dollar deals also brightened the mood.
Nvidia Corp NVDA.O jumped 6.7% on plans to buy UK-based
chip designer Arm from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T for
as much as $40 billion, in a deal set to reshape the global
semiconductor landscape. The Philadelphia SE chip index .SOX rose 2.4%. All major
S&P sectors were higher with technology .SPLRCT leading the
charge with a 2.3% increase.
Oracle ORCL.N surged 5.6% as the cloud services company
said it would team up with China's ByteDance to keep TikTok
operating in the United States, beating Microsoft Corp MSFT.O
in a deal structured as a partnership rather than an outright
sale. U.S. stocks are coming off of two straight weeks of losses
as investors sold heavyweight technology shares that had powered
the benchmark index to record highs in a dramatic recovery from
its March lows.
"The tail-end of last week seemed to indicate a continued
wobble in market sentiment that appears to be finding some more
solid footing this morning," said Yousef Abbasi, global market
strategist at StoneX Group Inc in New York.
"Behind this, we have the positive developments on vaccines
as well as an active merger Monday."
Amazon.com AMZN.O rose about 1.9% after the online
shopping giant said it is hiring 100,000 more workers in its
latest job spree for the United States this year - to keep pace
with e-commerce demand that jumped during the pandemic.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Facebook.com FB.O and Google-parent
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose between 2.0% and 3.5%.
At 10:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 341.08 points, or 1.23%, at 28,006.72, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 54.82 points, or 1.64%, at 3,395.79. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 241.80 points, or 2.23%, at 11,095.34.
Sentiment got a lift on Monday after drugmaker AstraZeneca
AZN.L resumed its British clinical trials of its COVID-19
vaccine, one of the most advanced in development. MKTS/GLOB
Pfizer Inc PFE.N gained 2.0% after the drugmaker and
German biotech firm BioNTech SE 22UAy.F proposed to expand
their Phase 3 pivotal COVID-19 vaccine trial to about 44,000
participants. "Markets are becoming increasingly comfortable with the
notion that we may be moving towards a safe and effective
vaccine, perhaps as early as the end of 2020, but at least into
early 2021," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at
Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
Later this week, investors will focus on the Federal
Reserve's last policy meeting before the Nov. 3 U.S.
presidential elections.
Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O slipped 3.9% as it said would
acquire biotech company Immunomedics Inc IMMU.O for $21
billion, a move that will strengthen its cancer portfolio by
gaining access to a promising drug. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.36-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 3.61-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 10 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 14 new lows.