US STOCKS-Wall St up on earnings, fewer jobless claims

                                

                                
 * Weekly initial jobless claims drop more than expected
                                
 * Exxon Mobil profit tops estimates, shares rise
                                
 * Euro zone economic sentiment at 28-month high
                                
 * Indexes up: Dow 0.4 pct, S&P 0.3 pct, Nasdaq 0.1 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
  (Updates to morning trading)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street edged higher on
Thursday on strong corporate earnings including Exxon Mobil and
after a drop in weekly jobless claims offered a glimmer of hope
for the anemic labor market recovery.
                                
 Initial claims for state unemployment insurance dropped by
11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 457,000 in the latest week,
versus the forecast of 459,000. Still, continuing claims rose
more than expected. For details see [ID:nN28202832]
                                
 Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N>, the S&P's largest company by
market capitalization, rose 1.2 percent to $61.66 after
reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
[ID:nN29213001]
                                
 The S&P energy sector <.GSPE> added nearly 1 percent, also
boosted by a 1.1 percent advance in crude futures <CLc1>.
                                
 "The Exxon profit news this morning was positive, said
Janna Sampson, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook
Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. "We're in a sideways
trading market, reacting to good profits versus bad profits,
with no real driver."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 37.09
points, or 0.35 percent, to 10,534.97. The Standard & Poor's
500 <.SPX> rose 3.03 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,109.16. The
Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> edged up 1.16 points, or 0.05 percent,
to 2,265.72.
                                
 Technical measures such as the daily moving average
convergence-divergence indicate the S&P 500 is in a strong
position to rise, even though it has failed to close above its
200-day simple moving average since Monday. It briefly traded
above the 200-day SMA Thursday morning.
                                
 "The key now for the (S&P 500) is to hold above the 50-day
line, near 1,080, which if it can, would put a lot of stress
(on short-sellers)", technical analysts at Instinet said.
                                
 France's Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA><SNY.N> plans to formally
offer up to $18.7 billion for Genzyme Corp <GENZ.O> after its
informal overture failed, sources said. Genzyme shares rose 3.4
percent to $70.26. [ID:nN28226612]
                                
 Further supporting equities, euro zone economic sentiment
rose to a 28-month high in July while German unemployment fell
to its lowest level since November 2008, boosting hopes for a
pickup in the consumer sector. [ID:nLDE66S0VN] and
[ID:nLDE66S0PL].
                                
 Capping gains on the Nasdaq, Symantec Corp <SYMC.O> fell
8.3 percent to $13.45 a day after the world's No. 1 security
software maker warned second-quarter sales and profit would
likely miss estimates.
                                
 Also, chipmaker Nvidia Corp <NVDA.O> dropped 7.8 percent to
$9.34 a day after it slashed its second-quarter sales outlook.
                                
 The PHLX semiconductor index <.SOXX> fell 1.5 percent.
[ID:nN28191544] and [ID:nN28222319]
  (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)