US STOCKS-Wall Street sets records anew on trade deal boost

* Trade-exposed tech stocks jump
* Boeing slips on 737 MAX production concerns
* UnitedHealth, Amgen rise after Goldman Sachs
recommendation
* Indexes up: Dow 0.36%, S&P 0.71%, Nasdaq 0.91%

(Updates to market close)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks notched
record closing highs on Monday as cooling trade tensions between
Washington and Beijing and upbeat economic data from China
boosted investor sentiment.
The Dow surpassed its November closing high, while the S&P
500 and Nasdaq marked record closes for the third straight
session.
Friday's announcement of an interim trade deal between the
world's two biggest economies has lifted prospects for the
global economy, several analysts said. Although growth in China
is expected to continue moderating, the trade developments
brightened the country's economic outlook. Adding to the optimism, data released early on Monday showed
China's industrial output and retail sales growth accelerated in
November.
The U.S.-China trade deal suspended tariffs scheduled to
take effect on Dec. 15 on a variety of consumer products,
including Apple Inc's AAPL.O iPhone. Apple shares rose 1.7%
and provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 .SPX and Nasdaq
.IXIC .
Shares of chipmakers, among the most trade-sensitive stocks,
also rose. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX gained
1.0%.
"It validates the best-case scenario people were expecting,"
Oliver Pursche, chief market strategist at Bruderman Asset
Management in New York, said of the removal of tariffs.
Accommodative monetary policy by the Federal Reserve this
year and mostly encouraging U.S. economic data have also helped
push Wall Street stocks to record levels. The benchmark S&P 500
index .SPX is up more than 27% this year and on track for its
highest annual percentage gain in six years.
"The Fed is increasing the size of its balance sheet, and
that generally translates to a good equity market," said Paul
Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management in
Chicago. "I'm not sure we need much more."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 100.51 points,
or 0.36%, to 28,235.89, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 22.65 points,
or 0.71%, to 3,191.45 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
79.35 points, or 0.91%, to 8,814.23.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group UNH.N and Amgen Inc AMGN.O
jumped after Goldman Sachs added both companies to its
"conviction list." UnitedHealth shares rose 2.3%, and Amgen
shares moved 2.7% higher. Boeing Co BA.N shares fell 4.3%, limiting gains on the
Dow, on reports that the planemaker was considering whether to
cut or halt production of its grounded 737 MAX aircraft.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.39-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.65-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 77 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 225 new highs and 54 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.48 billion shares, compared
with the 6.85 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.