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Apple ( AAPL ) falls after brokerage downgrade

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3M ( MMM ) up after fourth-quarter profit beat

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Walgreens falls after DoJ accusation on opioid

prescriptions

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Indexes up: Dow 1.07%, S&P 500 0.88%, Nasdaq 0.77%

(Updates prices to late afternoon)

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on

Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow hitting their highest in

more than a month, as investors assessed Donald Trump's first

actions as U.S. president and breathed relief that he did not

start his second term with blanket tariff increases.

Trump did not lay out any concrete plans on the universal

tariffs and additional surcharges on close trade partners as

previously promised, but said he was thinking about imposing

duties on Canadian and Mexican goods as early as Feb. 1.

While investors remain cautious about tariffs and the

potential for a global trade war pushing inflation higher,

brokerage Goldman Sachs lowered its forecast for the chances of

a universal tariff this year to 25% from about 40% seen in

December.

"There was a definite relief and a bit of surprise that

tariffs weren't called out in the first round of executive

actions that happened yesterday," said Carol Schleif, chief

market strategist at BMO Private Wealth. "Markets are leaping to

the conclusion, probably rightfully so, that the administration

will take a more nuanced approach."

Investors hope the new administration will use the threat of

tariffs as a negotiating tactic and take "a scalpel and not a

sledgehammer to tariffs," Schleif said.

Last week, the S&P 500 and Dow registered their biggest

weekly percentage gains since early November, helped by strong

bank earnings and signs that underlying inflation was cooling.

Schleif also noted a healthy broadening of the market rally

on Tuesday, with the more domestically focused small-cap Russell

2000 index outperforming larger cap indexes, with a 1.7%

gain and a more than one-month high.

At 2:11 p.m. EST (1911 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 466.30 points, or 1.07%, to 43,954.13, the S&P 500

gained 52.48 points, or 0.88%, to 6,049.14 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 150.74 points, or 0.77%, to 19,780.94.

Ten of the S&P 500's 11 industry indexes rose, with

utilities the biggest gainer, up 1.97%, followed by

industrials with a 1.94% increase. The biggest gainer

in industrials was 3M ( MMM ), which rallied 5.5% after

reporting upbeat fourth-quarter profits.

While the tech sector managed a small gain,

heavyweight Apple ( AAPL ) was down 3.8% after brokerage

Jefferies cut its rating to "underperform."

The sole sector decliner was energy, down 0.7%.

Shares of automakers, which are most sensitive to tariffs

due to their vast supply chains, rose. Ford gained 2%, while

General Motors ( GM ) added 5.6%, following a rating upgrade by

Deutsche Bank.

During the first year of Trump's earlier administration, the

S&P 500 rose 19.4%. The benchmark index rose nearly 68%

through his four-year term, but saw bouts of volatility,

stemming in part from a trade war Trump fought with China.

However, inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's 2%

target, fuelling worries that the new administration's policies

could delay the central bank's pace of monetary policy easing.

Economists see the Fed leaving borrowing costs unchanged

when it meets next week and traders see the first interest rate

cut coming in June, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

In other individual stocks, Walgreens fell 13.8%

after the Justice Department accused it of filling unlawful

prescriptions for addictive painkillers and other drugs.

Moderna ( MRNA ) rose more than 6% after securing $590

million from the U.S. government to hasten development of its

bird flu vaccine.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.32-to-1 ratio

on the New York Stock Exchange, where there were 216 new highs

and 33 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 3,109 stocks rose and 1,269 fell as advancing

issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.45-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500

posted 39 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq

Composite recorded 109 new highs and 68 new lows.