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AMD up on plans to acquire ZT Systems for $4.9 bln

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Fed Chair Powell to speak at Jackson Hole on Friday

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Indexes up: Dow 0.47%, S&P 500 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.40%

(Updated at 11:41 a.m. ET/ 1541 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian

Aug 19 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose for an eighth straight

session on Monday as concerns around an impending recession

abated and markets zeroed in on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome

Powell's speech at Jackson Hole later this week.

All three indexes notched up their best week of the year

on Friday - a sharp turnaround from an equities selloff earlier

in the month triggered by July unemployment data that fanned

worries about the health of the world's biggest economy.

The S&P 500 has recovered to levels last seen before the

July jobs report, while the Dow and Nasdaq sit about 0.2% and

0.5% off, respectively.

Goldman Sachs lowered the odds of the United States slipping

into a recession in the next 12 months to 20% from 25% following

the latest weekly jobless claims and retail sales reports.

At 11:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 189.14 points, or 0.47%, to 40,848.90, the S&P 500

gained 22.83 points, or 0.41%, to 5,577.08 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 69.65 points, or 0.40%, to 17,701.37.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, with energy adding

nearly 1% to lead gains. Communication services was

the second-biggest advancer, helped by Alphabet's 1.4%

rise.

Minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting are due on

Wednesday, and Powell will speak at the economic symposium in

Jackson Hole on Friday, with investors keeping an eye out for

any signs of acknowledgment of a rate cut in September.

"The Fed has recently mentioned how the risk of being too

tight for too long, and not restrictive enough are roughly

equal, so any "Fedspeak" one way or another could prompt markets

to see one risk as more prominent than the other," said Phil

Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.

Traders currently see a 77.5% chance of the Fed cutting

interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) in September, compared

with an even split between a 50 and 25 bps cut seen a week ago,

according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

The CBOE Volatility Index, or Wall Street's "fear

gauge", was last at 14.69, retreating from a four-year high seen

two weeks ago.

Among other stocks, Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) rose

close to 3% after the chipmaker said it plans to acquire server

maker ZT Systems for $4.9 billion, aiming to expand its

portfolio of artificial intelligence chips and hardware to

compete better with Nvidia ( NVDA ).

B. Riley Financial ( RILY ) slid 5.6% following a drop of

over 65% last week. Co-founder and co-CEO Bryant Riley had

offered to buy the bank on Friday, after it warned of a hit from

its investment in Vitamin Shoppe-owner Franchise Group.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.42-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 2.06-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and no new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 43 new

lows.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian in

Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Devika Syamnath)