US STOCKS-Wall St rises on strong earnings; financials lead

                                
  
                                
 * McDonald's, 3M and Travelers rally on profit beats
                                
 * J Crew raises view, shares jump
                                
 * Union Pacific falls on pricing outlook
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US]
(Updates to close, changes byline)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday
after several companies reported solid earnings that lent
credence to the idea corporate profitability has stabilized.
                                
 Financials were among the top gainers after insurer
Travelers Cos Inc <TRV.N> raised its full-year outlook and New
York Fed President William Dudley said the Federal Reserve may
not lose money on the emergency programs it put in place to
fight the financial crisis.
                                
 Shares of J Crew Group Inc <JCG.N> soared 15.2 percent to
$43.49 after the clothing retailer raised its outlook for the
third and fourth quarters, citing stronger-than-expected sales
and margin trends expected to last throughout the year.
                                
 J Crew led retailers higher, with the S&P retail index
<.RLX> up 1.7 percent.
                                
 "Stocks have been slowly inching their way up. Financials
 have clearly been an outperformer after being a leader on the
downside yesterday," said Michael James, senior trader at
Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.
                                
 "We've had strength all day on retailers with J Crew
pre-announcing much better numbers this morning," James said.
                                
 Dow components 3M Co <MMM.N>, AT&T Inc <T.N> and McDonald's
Corp <MCD.N> all rose after their profits beat expectations.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 131.95 points,
or 1.33 percent, to end at 10,081.31. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> gained 11.51 points, or 1.06 percent, to 1,092.91.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 14.56 points, or 0.68
percent, to 2,165.29.
                                
 Regional bank PNC Financial Services Group Inc <PNC.N>
spiked 12.7 percent to $50.65 after reporting far
better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
                                
 The S&P financial index <.GSPF> added 2.9 percent and the
KBW Bank Index <.BKX> jumped 3.4 percent.
                                
 Blue-chip 3M also raised its full-year outlook, sending its
shares up 3.2 percent to $78.79. Travelers rose 7.7 percent to
$51.70.
                                
 Shares of home builders also ranked among the top gainers,
with the Dow Jones U.S. home construction index <.DJUSHB> up
5.3 percent. Shares of KB Home <KBH.N> jumped 7.5 percent to
$16.17 and Pulte Homes <PHM.N> gained 6.5 percent to $10.44.
                                
 The New York Times Co <NYT.N> beat quarterly revenue and
profit forecasts because of cost cuts and higher newspaper
prices even as advertising sales fell, driving its shares up
22.5 percent to $10.72. [ID:nN22535078].
                                
 On the down side, Union Pacific Corp <UNP.N> fell 2.9
percent to $61.12 after the No. 1 U.S. railroad offered a more
conservative pricing outlook for the full year.
[ID:nN22537001].
 (Editing by Jan Paschal)