US STOCKS-Wall St set for weekly advances in countdown to Trump presidency

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Updates with mid-session trading

By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow on track to log their biggest weekly gains since November, as investors anticipate a wave of policy changes under the incoming Trump administration.

At 11:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 452.79 points, or 1.05%, to 43,605.92, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 69.24 points, or 1.17%, to 6,006.58 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 305.76 points, or 1.58%, to 19,644.05.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose with consumer discretionary .SPLRCD leading gains by a 1.9% rise. Technology stocks .SPLRCT rose 1.8%, bouncing back from the previous session's declines.

Nvidia NVDA.O gained 3.4% and Broadcom AVGO.O rose 3% after Barclays raised its price targets on the stocks, sending the chip index .SOX up 2.6%.

Intel INTC.O jumped 8.2% on speculations of a takeover.

Better-than-expected earnings from major banks and signs that inflation is cooling have prompted risk-taking on Wall Street this week, putting the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and the blue-chip Dow .DJI on track for their steepest weekly rises since the U.S. election week.

The S&P 500 banking index .SPXBK and regional banks .KRX have outperformed the main indexes this week, logging advances of about 6.2% and 7.1%, respectively.

Also aiding risk-sentiment, the yield on the 10-year benchmark note US10YT=RR is on track for its biggest weekly drop since late November.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to take over the White House on Monday and investors will be on edge for any insights into his plans on tax cuts, tariffs, regulations and immigration at his inauguration speech, that analysts widely expect could boost the economy.

"It'll be easier for him to initiate his tax and regulatory programs versus his tariff programs, because it invites retaliation ... there's some inflationary fear around that," said Scott Welch, chief investment officer at Certuity.

Fresh price pressures could force the Federal Reserve to stave off further monetary policy easing.

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said inflation remains a problem, as recent data has pointed to a resilient economy.

According to data compiled by LSEG, traders are expecting the central bank to leave interest rates on hold at its meeting later this month and see the first cut coming in July. They had all but priced out any rate cuts for 2025 earlier in the week.

On the data front, single-family homebuilding increased solidly in December. The housing index .HGX rose 0.7%.

Social media firms such as Meta META.O gained 0.6% and Snap SNAP.N lost 1.6% after the Supreme Court ruled against TikTok's challenge to law that would force its app's sale or ban in the United States.

SLB SLB.N gained 7.2% after the oilfield services provider beat estimates for fourth-quarter profit.

Truist Financial TFC.N rose 4.4% after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter profit as it earned more in interest payments.

J.B. Hunt JBHT.O lost 7.1% after the trucking firm missed Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.13-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.81-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 49 new lows.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Maju Samuel)

((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com;))