US STOCKS-S&P 500 inches closer to record high; Nasdaq down

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* S&P 500, Dow rise for 8th straight session
* Tech-laden Nasdaq slips for 3rd day
* Rotation from growth stocks to value extends
* Indexes: Dow up 0.7%, S&P 500 up 0.2%, Nasdaq down 0.5%

(Updates to late afternoon)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
Aug 11 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 was higher on Tuesday
afternoon and within striking distance of its closing record
from February, before the onset of the coronavirus crisis that
caused one of Wall Street's most dramatic crashes in history.
The benchmark index was less than 1% away from the all-time
closing high it hit on Feb. 19, when investors started dumping
shares in anticipation of what proved to be the biggest slump in
the U.S. economy since the Great Depression.
Ultra-low interest rates, trillions of dollars in stimulus
and, more recently, a better-than-feared second-quarter earnings
season have allowed all three of Wall Street's main indexes to
recover.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC has led the charge, boosted by
"stay-at-home winners" Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O .
The Nasdaq was down on Tuesday, however, and investors
continued to rotate out of the technology-related market
heavyweights and into value shares.
"We're seeing profit-taking in the mega-cap tech names and
seeing those profits allocated toward sectors that have been
lagging," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at
Prudential Financial, which is based in Newark, New Jersey.
"We're seeing a broadening of the market in terms of sectors
... This is important because it suggests health in the
economy."
The Dow .DJI surged, also coming closer to its February
peak.
On Tuesday, the Russell 1000 value .RLV index rose 0.9%,
while the Russell 1000 growth .RLG index was down 0.4%.
Investors are hoping Republicans and Democrats will resolve
their differences and agree on another relief program to support
about 30 million unemployed Americans, as the battle with the
virus outbreak was far from over with U.S. cases surpassing 5
million last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 204.79 points,
or 0.74%, to 27,996.23, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.73 points,
or 0.20%, to 3,367.2 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
55.10 points, or 0.5%, to 10,913.26.
Financials .SPSY and industrials .SPLRCI , which have
lagged the benchmark index this year, were up on Tuesday as the
S&P 500 eyed its longest streak of gains since April 2019.
Aiding sentiment, President Vladimir Putin claimed Russia
had become the first country in the world to grant regulatory
approval to a COVID-19 vaccine. But the approval has concerned
some experts as the vaccine still must complete final trials.
Airlines and cruise operators, which would benefit from a
full reopening of the economy, traded higher.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.91-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.27-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 45 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 91 new highs and 10 new lows.