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* Western Union, MoneyGram surge on report of deal offer
* Financial, energy, industrials stocks lead
* Airlines surge as commercial travel trickles back
* Indexes up: Dow 1.05%, S&P 0.82%, Nasdaq 0.59%
(Updates with closing prices)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - A late-session rally pushed
Wall Street to solid gains on Tuesday as market participants
looked past widespread social unrest and pandemic worries to
focus instead on easing lockdown restrictions and signs of
economic recovery.
Tech shares, along with cyclical stocks like industrials and
financials, gave the biggest lift to all three major stock
indexes.
The Nasdaq, the S&P 500 and the Dow have been approaching
their all-time closing highs in recent weeks and are now about
2%, 9% and 13%, respectively, below record closing levels.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have closed in positive territory
in six of the last seven sessions.
"Technicals are pushing the market higher and the market's
not paying attention to the potential problems that the protests
could have on local economies," said Peter Cardillo, chief
market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Nationwide, violent protests over the death of a black man
at the hands of law enforcement officers continued unabated,
even as President Donald Trump vowed to unleash the military on
the demonstrators.
"If the violence continues it might worsen the coronavirus'
impact on businesses," Cardillo added. "A lot of stores would
close; there'd be curfews; people wouldn't be able to shop and
that would further hurt the economy."
But the green shoots of economic rebound driven in no small
part by massive stimulus packages from Capitol Hill and the U.S.
Federal Reserve has helped fuel investor optimism.
Market participants now await Friday's crucial jobs report
from the Labor Department for a clearer picture of the extent of
economic damage wrought by mandated lockdowns. The report is
expected to show the unemployment rate surging to a historic
19.7%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 267.63 points,
or 1.05%, to 25,742.65, the S&P 500 gained 25.09 points,
or 0.82%, to 3,080.82 and the Nasdaq Composite added
56.33 points, or 0.59%, to 9,608.38.
All 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended the session in the
black, with energy and materials enjoying the
largest percentage gains.
The ARCA Airline index, whose constituents have been
hit particularly hard by COVID-19-related restrictions, was up
3.8% boosted by a slow but steady increase in commercial air
traffic.
Southwest Airlines Co rose 2.6% after extending
buyout and paid leaves to employees in what its chief executive
called an effort to "ensure survival."
Shares of Slack Technologies Inc advanced 3.2%
after Cowen initiated coverage of the workspace communication
platform with an "outperform" rating.
A report that Western Union has made an offer to buy
smaller rival MoneyGram International Inc sent the money
transfer companies shares up by 11.3% and 29.7%, respectively.
Shares of luxury retailer Tiffany & Co dropped 8.9%
following a report from WWD that its deal with LVMH is seen as
uncertain amid the deteriorating U.S. market.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.89-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.69-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 77 new highs and five new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.72 billion shares, compared
with the 11.35 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)