US STOCKS-Tech, financials lead Wall St higher

                                

                                
* Merck shares jump, lift health sector after upgrade
                                
* Baidu rallies as Google reviews China operation
                                
* Indexes up: Dow 0.5 pct, S&P 500 0.8 pct, Nasdaq 1.1 pct
                                
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to afternoon, changes byline)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday
as investors bought financial and technology shares ahead of
earnings from bellwethers Intel Corp <INTC.O> and JPMorgan
Chase & Co <JPM.N> later this week.
                                
 A brokerage upgrade of drugmaker Merck & Co <MRK.N> and an
upbeat outlook from Kraft Foods Inc <KFT.N> gave a boost to the
healthcare and consumer sectors.
                                
 JPMorgan shares, up 1.8 percent to $44.26, led gains in the
KBW bank index <.BKX>, while chip maker Advance Micro Devices
<AMD.N> jumped 5.3 percent to $9.11 after falling five straight
sessions.
                                
 Intel shares rose 1.5 percent to $20.92 and a semiconductor
index <.SOXX> gained 1.2 percent.
                                
 "Heading into Intel and JPMorgan earnings, I think there
was a sense things have sold off enough and buyers have felt
more comfortable buying into semiconductors and financials,"
said Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los
Angeles.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 53.74
points, or 0.51 percent, to 10,681.00. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> rose 9.05 points, or 0.80 percent, to
1,145.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 24.85
points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,307.16.
                                
 Wall Street, which had its worst session so far this year
on Tuesday, opened lower, weighed down by resource shares.
                                
 Intel is scheduled to post quarterly results on Thursday
and JPMorgan on Friday.
                                
 The biggest boost to the Dow came from Merck shares, up 4.4
percent to $39.21 after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock.
                                
 Kraft raised its 2009 earnings outlook, sending shares up
0.4 percent to $29.40.
                                
 Chocolate maker Hershey Co <HSY.N> was still mulling a
potential bid for Cadbury <CBRY.L> but has not decided whether
it will proceed with a formal offer, a source familiar with the
situation said on Wednesday.
                                
 Hershey's shares fell 2.6 percent to $36.75. Kraft is also
attempting to buy Cadbury. [ID:nN13222343]
                                
 Google Inc's <GOOG.O> shares fell 0.9 percent to $582.03
after the Internet search giant said it may shut its China
operations over censorship and hacking. For details see
 [ID:nN12210451] and [ID:nTOE60C07A].
                                
 Shares of rival Chinese search engine Baidu Inc <BIDU.O>
jumped 13 percent to $436.62 and led percentage gains on the
Nasdaq 100 <.NDX>.
                                
 Crude oil prices slipped 0.4 percent to $80.45 per barrel,
and Chevron Corp <CVX.N> was the biggest drag on the Dow,
falling 0.9 percent to $79.71.
                                
 The heads of Wall Street's biggest banks defended the
lucrative pay practices and size of their businesses before a
commission investigating the 2008 financial crisis.
[ID:nN13220575]
                                
 "I think the rally (in financial shares) is more a function
of gaining back yesterday's losses than what was going on in
Washington," Wedbush Morgan's James said.
                                
 The Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book that while
economic activity was at a low level, "conditions have improved
modestly further, and those improvements are broader
geographically than in the last report."[ID:nN13227279].
                                
 (Editing by Kenneth Barry)