US STOCKS-Wall Street surges on Apple, Microsoft, Amazon

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* Apple jumps ahead of Tuesday event
* Twitter rises after Deutsche Bank upgrades to "buy"
* White House calls for limited COVID-19 relief bill
* Indexes: Dow +1.13%, S&P 500 +2.01%, Nasdaq +3.16

(Updates to afternoon trading)
By Noel Randewich
Oct 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street surged on Monday, fueled by
expectations of a coronavirus relief package and by a rally in
Amazon, Apple and other technology stocks ahead quarterly
earnings season.
Apple Inc AAPL.O jumped nearly 7% ahead of an event on
Tuesday, when it is expected to unveil its newest iPhones.
Amazon AMZN.O rallied over 6% ahead of its annual Prime
Day shopping event on Oct. 13 and 14. Microsoft MSFT.O climbed
3.5%, helping lift the S&P 500 information technology index by
3.3%.
The S&P 500 was about 1% below its record closing high from
Sept. 2, nearly recovering from most of a 9% pullback last
month.
Optimistic sentiment dominated after the Trump
administration on Sunday called on Congress to pass a
stripped-down coronavirus relief bill as negotiations on a
broader package ran into resistance. "It looks like the administration wants a deal done before
the election," said Brian Battle, director of trading at
Performance Trust Capital Partners in Chicago. "Now it's up to
the Republican Senate to figure out how big the number is going
to be."
Many investors view Democratic candidate Joe Biden as more
likely to raise taxes, and for months have seen a second term
for Trump, who favors deregulation, as better for the overall
stock market.
However, with growing expectations of a Democratic win in
next month's presidential election, investors are increasingly
pointing to potential benefits of a Biden presidency, such as
greater infrastructure spending and less global trade
uncertainty.
Betting odds aggregated by RealClearPolitics suggest bettors
see a 67% chance Biden will win and a 33% chance for Trump, the
greatest gap so far between the two candidates.
With the Oct. 15 presidential debate officially canceled,
Trump plans to travel to key battleground states this week as
his doctor declared he was no longer a transmission risk for the
novel coronavirus. Results from big U.S. banks will be in focus this week, with
JPMorgan & Co JPM.N and Citigroup C.N set to report on
Tuesday. The S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK gained 0.9%.
Overall, analysts expect third-quarter earnings for S&P 500
companies to fall 20.7% from a year earlier, smaller than a
30.6% slump in the second quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 1.13% at
28,910.08 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.01% to
3,546.95.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 3.16% at 11,945.77.
The S&P 500 energy index .SPNY fell 0.4% as oil prices
dropped on easing supply worries. O/R
Twitter Inc TWTR.N jumped 5.7% after Deutsche Bank
upgraded the social media company's shares to "buy" on
expectations of continued growth in 2021.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.48-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.34-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 70 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 158 new highs and 11 new lows.