(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

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Indexes up: Dow 1.35%, Nasdaq 2.04%, S&P 1.65%

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S&P March flash Composite PMI at 53.5 vs 51.6 in Feb

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Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) drops on brokerage downgrade

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Crypto stocks gain as bitcoin prices rise

(Updates to mid-session trading)

By Sruthi Shankar and Johann M Cherian

March 24 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's three main indexes touched two-week highs on

Monday, boosted by technology stocks on signs that the Trump

administration is taking a measured approach on tariffs against

its trading partners.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is likely to

exclude a set of sector-specific tariffs that are on track to be

imposed on April 2, according to media reports over the weekend.

Investors scooped up battered technology shares, with

Nvidia ( NVDA ) up 3.3% and Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD )

adding 6.2%, which sent the broader chip index higher by

3.1%. Other megacaps such as Meta Platforms ( META ) jumped 3.2%

and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) rose 2.8%.

The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index led

sectoral gains with a 3.3% advance, aided by Tesla's

9.4% surge.

Speaking on the repercussions of Trump's fluctuating

trade policies, Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for

Northlight Asset Management, said "we think the biggest impact

is that the uncertainty has at least slowed down or potentially

frozen a lot of the business activity."

"And there's a concern that future earnings (a few)

quarters from now will be lower because of this chilling

effect."

Financial markets have whipsawed over the past several weeks

as traders have been confronted by fears of a sharp U.S.

economic slowdown after Trump announced a series of tariffs last

month on some of its main trading partners including China,

Mexico and Canada.

Several companies have also cited tariff uncertainty as they

lowered their forecasts for the upcoming quarters. Data compiled

by LSEG as of Friday showed, earnings of companies included in

the S&P 500 are expected to grow by 10.5% in 2025, down by 3.5

percentage points since the beginning of the year.

However, U.S. stocks appear to have found a floor after

weeks-long selloff that pushed the benchmark S&P 500 and

the tech-heavy Nasdaq down by 10% from their record

highs - commonly known as correction.

At 11:55 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 566.80 points, or 1.35%, to 42,552.38, the S&P 500

gained 93.71 points, or 1.65%, to 5,761.27 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 363.10 points, or 2.04%, to 18,146.78.

The domestically focused Russell 2000 index added

2.2% to hit a two-week high, while the CBOE Volatility Index

, also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, dropped 1.13

points to a three-week low.

A survey

showed

U.S. business activity picked up in March, but growing

fears over import tariffs and deep government spending cuts

continued to weigh on sentiment.

Investors are now awaiting a slew of data through the week

including the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index

- the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.

Among other single stocks, Dun & Bradstreet ( DNB ) rose

2.9% after the data and analytics provider entered an agreement

to be acquired by private equity firm Clearlake Capital in a

$7.7 billion deal.

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) fell 1.3% as BofA Global Research

downgraded the weapons maker to "neutral" from "buy".

Crypto stocks such as Strategy advanced 6.7%,

Coinbase added gained 5.2% and Mara Holdings ( MARA )

climbed 14.2%, tracking a 3.5% rise in bitcoin prices.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.54-to-1

ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.23-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and no new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 65

new lows.