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Dow breaches 43k for first time

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Caterpillar ( CAT ) falls after Morgan Stanley downgrades rating

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Boeing ( BA ) down after job-cut plans, jet delivery delay

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China ADRs slip as stimulus announcement short on details

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Indexes up: Dow 0.34%, S&P 500 0.68%, Nasdaq 0.85%

(Updated to 1400 Eastern/1800 GMT)

By David French and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street advanced on Monday, with

both the S&P 500 and the Dow scaling fresh intraday record

highs, as investors bought into technology stocks ahead of a

busy week packed with corporate earnings and crucial economic

data.

The impending flood of new data points from corporate

America will help investors assess the health of the U.S.

economy, and whether companies can continue to justify stretched

stock market valuations.

Investors are keeping an eye on economic numbers that will

help shape the thinking of the U.S. Federal Reserve towards its

interest-rate cutting policy - the dominant theme this year.

On a somewhat subdued day for trading, given bond markets

were shut due to the federal holiday, U.S. equities maintained

the upward momentum from Friday, when both the S&P 500

and Dow Jones Industrial Average notched record closes

after major banks kicked off the third-quarter corporate

earnings season on a positive note.

Monday's gains were driven by chip stocks, with an index of

semiconductor companies jumping 1.8% to a more than

two-month high, led by Nvidia's ( NVDA ) 2.9% rise. Among other

growth stocks, Apple ( AAPL ) and Microsoft gained 1.2% and

0.8%, respectively.

"There's a continued belief that the economy continues to

move forward, albeit slowly, and optimism that third-quarter

earnings are going to be good and probably hopefully better than

expected," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager, Dakota

Wealth Management.

"People are moving back into these megacap tech names that

had been left out as people were looking for the rotation

trade."

At 02:00 p.m. Eastern time, the S&P 500 was up 40.40

points, or 0.68%, to 5,855.43 points, while the Nasdaq Composite

had gained 156.11 points, or 0.85%, to 18,499.04. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 147.88 points, or

0.34%, to 43,011.74.

For the Dow, it was the first time that it has breached

43,000 points. Gains on the benchmark, however, were kept in

check by a 1.8% drop in Caterpillar ( CAT ), following a

brokerage downgrade, and a 1.5% fall in Boeing ( BA ) after the

planemaker flagged a larger-than-expected Q3 loss on Friday.

Energy shares fell 0.1%, tracking lower oil prices.

However, the rest of the S&P 500 sectors were in positive

territory, led by the 1.4% increase in the information

technology index.

Bank earnings may have boosted hopes that solid results

could help stocks continue their strong 2024 run. However, with

stock valuations stretched - the S&P 500 is trading at 21.8

times forward earnings, versus a long-term average of 15.7 -

companies might struggle to satisfy investors.

October marks two years since the end of the last bear

market in 2022, with the S&P 500 up more than 63% since its Oct.

12, 2022 close.

Forty-one S&P 500 companies are expected to report results

this week. Year-over-year third-quarter earnings growth for the

S&P 500 is estimated at 4.9%, according to data compiled by LSEG

on Friday.

Investors will also watch for crucial economic data, notably

the September retail sales figures, for clues on the financial

health of U.S. consumers.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he

sees modest interest-rate cuts ahead as inflation hovers near

the central bank's 2% target. Fed Governor Christopher Waller is

also scheduled to speak later in the day.

Bets on a 25-basis-point reduction at the Fed's November

meeting stood at 86.1%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch

tool, as traders dialed back expectations of an outsized cut.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms dropped, with Alibaba

down 2% and PDD Holdings ( PDD ) losing 6.1%, as

investors were left guessing at the size of the overall fiscal

stimulus China announced on Saturday.