* Financials rise on analyst upgrade of Goldman Sachs
* Corporate earnings awaited for clues to economy
* Indexes up: Dow 0.6 pct; S&P 500 0.6 pct; Nasdaq 0.2 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news click []
(Recasts, updates to mid-morning)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday in
a choppy session after influential bank analyst Meredith
Whitney upgraded Goldman Sachs Group and sparked hopes
corporate quarterly results in the financial sector may be
surprisingly strong.
Her comments more than offset investor jitters over a key
week for corporate earnings and news that CIT Group Inc
<CIT.N>, which provides financing to small and mid-sized
businesses, was struggling to stay afloat.
Goldman Sachs <GS.N> jumped 4 percent to $147.36 after
Whitney upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral." In comments
to CNBC television, Whitney, known for a bearish stance on
financial stocks, said Bank of America Corp <BAC.N> and
JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> could do well in the second
quarter. []
The S&P gauge of the financial sector <.GSPF> rose 2.9
percent.
Goldman, Bank of America and JP Morgan are some of the
major financial companies scheduled to post quarterly earnings
and outlooks this week.
Bank results could be seen as landing better than expected,
said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath
Trading LLC in Chicago, adding that the bar was not set too
high in the first place.
"No doubt we're starting from a pretty low level," he said.
"We're all looking for any type of good news in the banking
sector. They've been the (main) cause of concern here for so
long, and anything that improves their outlook is being taken
as a good sign for the market."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> gained 50.03
points, or 0.61 percent, to 8,196.55. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> rose 5.13 points, or 0.58 percent, to 884.26. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> added 2.95 points, or 0.17
percent, to 1,758.98.
In news that underscored the fallout from the recession,
CIT, the commercial U.S. lender struggling to finance its
business, said late on Sunday it remained in discussions with
regulators on measures to improve its near-term liquidity. For
details see [].
Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported over the
weekend that CIT hired a top law firm to explore a possible
bankruptcy filing. [].
CIT shares fell almost 25 percent to $1.15.
The S&P 500 index has rallied as much as 40 percent from
its 12-year low set in early March, but the drive higher wilted
in June as investors searched for economic proof to support the
rise.
(Additional reporting by Ellis Mnyandu and Edward Krudy;
Editing by Padraic Cassidy)
