* Citi off as profit, revs miss expectations
* Apple off after CEO Jobs takes leave, to post results
* Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.1 pct Nasdaq up 0.4 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates to close, changes byline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Jan 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks gained on
Tuesday, overcoming weak Citigroup results and concerns
circling Apple after Chief Executive Steve Jobs' medical
leave.
Investors focused instead on increased price targets for
Google <GOOG.O>, which reports later this week, and Dow
component Caterpillar <CAT.N>, whose results are due next
week.
Shares of Apple Inc <AAPL.O> slipped 2.3 percent to
$340.65 ahead of its quarterly earnings, after the company
said Jobs is taking his third medical leave since 2004. For
details, see [] and []
Shares of the bellwether technology company pared earlier
losses and eased pressure on stock indexes. Apple has about a
21 percent weighting in the Nasdaq 100 <>, which edged up
0.2 percent.
"To me, it seemed like the news was troubling for the
company, but it's Apple, it ain't going to matter," said
Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Morgan in San
Francisco.
Massocca felt the iPad maker would report strong results
and "shorts will be picking shards of glass out of their
eyes."
Offsetting the news was a gain in shares of Google, up 2.5
percent at $639.63 after several brokerages raised their price
target on the company's stock ahead of the world's No. 1
Internet search engine's earnings later this week.
The Dow also rose moderately, boosted by gains in
Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N> . The heavy equipment maker's stock
was up 2.8 percent at $96.23 after Raymond James raised its
price target to $116 from $95.
Also lifting the Dow was Boeing Co <BA.N>, which gained
3.4 percent to $72.47 after the plane maker alleviated fears
about the delivery schedule of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner
jet. []
Optimism about earnings has helped bolster stocks in
recent weeks, with the S&P 500 posting its seventh straight
week of gains on Friday.
Aside from Apple, gains were tempered by Citigroup Inc
<C.N> , whose shares fell 6.4 percent to $4.80 after the No. 3
U.S. bank reported a sharp drop in bond trading revenue that
pushed profits below expectations. For details, see
[]
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 50.55 points,
or 0.43 percent, to end at 11,837.93. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> added 1.78 points, or 0.14 percent, to
1,295.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> gained 10.55
points, or 0.38 percent, at 2,765.85.
Earlier, the Dow traded as high intraday as 11,858.78, a
fresh 52-week high. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also climbed
intraday and closed just slightly below their fresh 52-week
highs.
The financial SPDR exchange-traded fund <XLF.P> was off
0.5 percent and the KBW bank index <.BKX> dropped 1.2 percent
after recent gains. Stronger-than-expected results from
JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> last Friday buoyed optimism about
bank stocks, which had rallied in recent weeks.
Bank of America Corp <BAC.N> was down 1.6 percent at
$15.00. The bank is set to report results later this week.
Volume was fair with about 8.5 billion shares traded on
the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and
Nasdaq, slightly above last year's estimated daily average of
8.47 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by
1,626 to 1,374, while on the Nasdaq, decliners slightly beat
advancers by 1,369 to 1,278.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)
