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Micron Technology ( MU ) surges after upbeat Q3 rev forecast

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Apple ( AAPL ) falls as DOJ sues co over antitrust laws

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Dow nears 40,000 points for the first time

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Indexes up: Dow 0.84%, S&P 0.62%, Nasdaq 0.65%

(Updated at 11:36 a.m. ET/1536 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan

March 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main stock indexes

touched record highs on Thursday as chip stocks rallied

following Micron Technology's ( MU ) upbeat forecast, while investors

took comfort in the Federal Reserve sticking to its

three-rate-cut view for this year.

Chipmaker Micron Technology jumped 14.9%, briefly

hitting an all-time high, after posting a surprise quarterly

profit and forecasting third-quarter revenue above estimates.

Peers such as Intel ( INTC ) and Nvidia ( NVDA ) added 2.3%

and 1.8%, respectively, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor

index advanced 3.6%.

Broadcom ( AVGO ) gained 9.2% as TD Cowen upgraded its

rating to "outperform".

U.S. stock indexes had closed higher on Wednesday after U.S.

central bankers kept borrowing costs unchanged and indicated

they still expect to ease interest rates by three-quarters of a

percentage point by the end of 2024.

"This market is hungry and is salivating for information

that's going to continue to drive its rally and those two

primary areas from my view are the Fed and potential rate cuts,

and AI," said Andre Bakhos, president at Ingenium Analytics.

Inflation reports "haven't really changed the overall story,

which is that of inflation moving down gradually on a sometimes

bumpy road to 2%," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press

conference after the policy meeting.

The CME FedWatch tool showed the market is now pricing in a

70% chance of a Fed rate cut in June, compared with around 56%

estimated at the beginning of the week.

UBS Global Research said that it now expects the first cut

in June, compared with its prior forecast of a cut in May.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing new claims for

unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting

that job growth remained strong in March.

A separate reading showed flash U.S. Composite PMI Output

Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, came

in at 52.2 this month versus 52.5 in February.

At 11:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 330.57 points, or 0.84%, at 39,842.70, the S&P 500

was up 32.51 points, or 0.62%, at 5,257.13, and the

Nasdaq Composite was up 106.60 points, or 0.65%, at

16,476.01.

The three major indexes hit fresh intra-day record

highs, with the Dow just 0.4% from hitting 40,000 points for the

first time.

All 11 major S&P 500 sectors also rose, with industrials

leading gains, up 0.9%.

Most rate-sensitive megacap growth and technology stocks

advanced.

Apple ( AAPL ), however, bucked the trend and eased 3.3%

after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the iPhone maker, the

first major antitrust effort against the company by the Biden

administration, alleging it monopolized smartphone markets.

Goldman Sachs ( GS ) led the rally in banking stocks,

last up 3.7%.

IT services provider Accenture fell 8.4% after it

cut its fiscal-year 2024 revenue forecast, as an uncertain

economy prompts clients to cut spending on its consulting

services.

Reddit's shares are expected to start trading on the New

York Stock Exchange later in the day under the ticker 'RDDT'.