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Trump Media ( DJT ), crypto stocks, prison operators jump

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Goldman Sachs ( GS ), BlackRock edge higher after results

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Macy's falls after ending discussions with Arkhouse and

Brigade

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Health insurance stocks gain

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Indexes up: Dow 0.50%, S&P 0.42%, Nasdaq 0.51%

(Updated at 9:49 a.m. ET/ 1349 GMT)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Ankika Biswas

July 15 (Reuters) - The Dow hit a record high in Wall

Street's upbeat trading on Monday, on a greater chance of

presidential candidate Donald Trump winning a second term after

surviving an assassination attempt, while interest-rate cut

hopes also aided sentiment.

Under Trump, markets expect a hawkish trade policy and

looser regulations over issues from climate change to

cryptocurrency.

Online betting site PredictIt showed bets of an election win

for Trump at 66 cents, up from Friday's 60 cents, with a victory

for Joe Biden at 26 cents.

"In a Republican administration, you'll see a lower tax

policy, lower regulatory policy... that's typically good for

stocks. We're seeing some of that in terms of forward looking

expectations from investors at this point," said Chris

Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor

Alliance.

Trump-linked stocks soared, with Trump Media & Technology

Group ( DJT ), software firm Phunware ( PHUN ) and video-sharing

platform Rumble jumping between 6% and 32%.

Crypto stocks also leapt as bitcoin rose to a

two-week high. Coinbase Global ( COIN ), Marathon Digital

holdings ( MARA ) and Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) advanced between

5.3% and 8.2%.

Other stocks that are expected to benefit from Trump's

second term also climbed, with Gunmaker Smith & Wesson

and prison operator GEO Group ( GEO ) gaining 12.6% and 9.4%,

respectively.

The Dow hit a record high, boosted by a 2% gain in

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) as health insurers also jumped on a likely

Trump win.

The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 1.2% to its highest

since January 2022, in continued evidence of broad-based market

gains.

Investors priced in an 88% odd of a 25-basis-point rate cut

by September and two cuts for 2024, according to LSEG data, even

though the Fed's last set of economic projections had indicated

only one rate cut this year.

Rate cut hopes aided Friday's strong rally, which saw the

Dow and S&P 500 touch intraday record highs after

cooler-than-expected inflation data, and the Russell 2000 notch

its best week since November.

Comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and San

Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, expected later on Monday,

will be parsed for clues on their assessment of last week's

inflation data.

At 9:49 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was

up 201.52 points, or 0.50%, at 40,202.42, the S&P 500 was

up 23.67 points, or 0.42%, at 5,639.02, and the Nasdaq Composite

was up 93.90 points, or 0.51%, at 18,492.34.

As the quarterly corporate earnings season ramps up this

week, it remains to be seen if megacaps can justify their high

valuations.

Among megacaps, Apple ( AAPL ) advanced 1.8% to all-time

high after Morgan Stanley added it to its "top pick" list, while

Tesla jumped 4.8%.

Leading sectoral gainers was the S&P 500 tech index

. Financials index also rose 0.8%, with Goldman

Sachs ( GS ) hitting a record-high after second-quarter profit

more than doubled.

Macy's shares slumped 15.3% after the company

terminated buyout discussions with Arkhouse Management and

Brigade Capital.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.42-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.59-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and one new low,

while the Nasdaq recorded 96 new highs and 15 new lows.

(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru;

Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli)