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* Tesla up after announcing stock split
* Benchmark S&P 500 nears record closing high
* Indexes up: Dow 1%, S&P 500 1.5%, Nasdaq 2.2%
(Updates to late afternoon)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
Aug 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 jumped on Wednesday, putting
it just points away from its record closing high in a broad
rally led by tech stocks.
After closing lower on Tuesday amid worries over a stalemate
in U.S. fiscal stimulus bill talks, the S&P 500 was up more than
1% in afternoon trading and once again within striking distance
of its record high close of 3,386.15 from Feb. 19, before the
onset of the coronavirus crisis in the United States that caused
one of Wall Street's most dramatic crashes in history.
Heavyweights Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc
and Apple Inc were the top boosts to the S&P
500.
"We're seeing buyers show up very quickly, any chance they
get when the market declines. To me, that's a very bullish
sign," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments
in New York.
The Nasdaq was the first of the three major indexes to
bounce back to an all-time high in June. The Dow remains roughly
6% below its February peak.
With a better-than-feared second-quarter earnings season
largely over, investors are preparing for the risk of a
contested U.S. presidential election in the fall.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday picked Senator
Kamala Harris as his choice for vice president.
Meanwhile, a breakdown in bipartisan talks over the next
federal aid bill to help tens of millions of Americans suffering
in the coronavirus pandemic entered a fifth day, with neither
side ready to resume negotiations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 273.69 points,
or 0.99%, to 27,960.6, the S&P 500 gained 48.82 points,
or 1.46%, to 3,382.51 and the Nasdaq Composite added
237.44 points, or 2.2%, to 11,020.26.
Tesla Inc jumped 14.1%, providing the biggest lift
to Nasdaq, as it announced a five-for-one stock split in an
attempt to make its shares more accessible to employees and
investors.
Latest data showed U.S. consumer prices increased
more-than-expected in July, but high unemployment is likely to
keep inflation under control, allowing the Federal Reserve to
continue pumping money into the economy.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.69-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.21-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 78 new highs and 21 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Medha Singh and Ambar Warrick in
Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Uttaresh.V and Tom Brown)