US STOCKS-Wall Street hits record high on energy, tech boost

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* Philadelphia Semiconductor index hits record high
* Under Armour drops on federal probe, revenue outlook cut
* McDonald's biggest drag on Dow after CEO dismissal
* Indexes up: Dow 0.50%, S&P 0.46%, Nasdaq 0.50%

(Changes comment, updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 4 (Reuters) - Gains in technology and energy shares
pushed Wall Street's three main indexes to record highs on
Monday, as hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal and an improving
domestic economy boosted risk appetite.
Washington and Beijing said on Friday they had made progress
in defusing an economically damaging trade war, with U.S.
officials indicating that a deal could be signed this month.
Adding to the optimism, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said
on Sunday licenses for U.S. companies to sell components to
China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL would come "very
shortly". Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the
energy shares .SPNY gaining the most on the back of higher oil
prices. The sector along with technology shares .SPLRCT
provided the biggest boost to the benchmark index. O/R
Helping the tech sector was a rally in trade-sensitive chip
stocks, which also drove the Philadelphia Semiconductor index
.SOX to a record high.
"Signing these deals take time. All that is needed for
markets to be happy right now is for an agreement to be
announced," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane
Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
"The earnings period was certainly enough to support current
stock prices. It wasn't good enough to lead stocks higher but
not bad enough for them to go any lower," he added.
The third-quarter earnings season has been fairly upbeat,
with 76% of the 360 S&P 500 companies that have reported results
so far beating profit expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
Last week's interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve,
growing expectations of a trade deal and a better-than-feared
October jobs growth report have been the main catalysts of the
recent rally.
A report on Monday, however, showed new orders for U.S.-made
goods fell more than expected in September and business spending
on equipment was slightly weaker than initially thought,
suggesting that manufacturing remains soft amid the ongoing
trade war. At 11:21 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 136.74 points, or 0.50%, at 27,484.10, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 14.22 points, or 0.46%, at 3,081.13 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 42.34 points, or 0.50%, at 8,428.74.
The biggest drag on the blue-chip Dow Jones index was a 2.6%
drop in shares of McDonald's Corp MCD.N after the fast-food
giant dismissed Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook over a recent
consensual relationship with an employee, which the board
determined violated company policy. Under Armour Inc UAA.N fell 15.4% as it lowered its
full-year revenue forecast for a second straight time, a day
after it confirmed a federal probe related to its accounting
practices. In M&A activity, medical device maker Stryker Corp SYK.N
said it would buy smaller rival Wright Medical Group WMGI.O
for about $4 billion in cash. Shares in Wright Medical surged
32%, while Stryker fell 3.9%.
The S&P index recorded 59 new 52-week highs and no new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 110 new highs and 21 new lows.