* Financials climb on optimism about bank results
* Goldman posts results after hours
* Boeing weighs on Dow on profit warning
* Dow off 0.3 pct; S&P 500 up 0.3 pct, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news click []
(Updates to close)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK, April 13 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose
on Monday as bets that major banks will post reassuring
quarterly results fueled a run-up in financials, offsetting
uneasiness about the fate of General Motors <GM.N> .
The Dow, however, slipped after Boeing <BA.N> said cuts in
output of widebody planes and lower-than-expected airplane
prices would hurt first-quarter profit, sparking caution about
the economy's health and the corporate earnings season just
getting under way.
Banking sector optimism followed surprisingly upbeat
preliminary quarterly results from Wells Fargo <WFC.N> last
week.
After the bell, Goldman Sachs <GS.N> , surprised investors
by posting its quarterly results a day early, and announced a
$5 billion public offering of common equity. Goldman's stock
ended the regular session up nearly 5 percent at $130.15.
Shares of JPMorgan, due to post results on Thursday, rose
almost 3 percent to $33.70, while Bank of America <BAC.N>
gained 15.4 percent to $11.02. Citigroup <C.N> , whose results
are expected on Friday, soared 25 percent to $3.80. The KBW
Bank index <.BKX> climbed 8 percent, while the S&P financial
index <.GSPF> added 4.8 percent.
"The market is cheering, not so much that the banks are on
the mend, but that they are not going to die," said Les
Satlow, portfolio manager of Cabot Money Management in Salem,
Massachusetts. "These are banks that are clawing their way
back, literally from the brink of extinction. My view is that
a key crisis phase of this economic downturn is behind us."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> fell 25.57 points,
or 0.32 percent, to 8,057.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> gained 2.17 points, or 0.25 percent, to 858.73. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> rose just 0.77 of a point, or
0.05 percent, to 1,653.31.
The banking sector's health has been a major worry after
fallout from the financial crisis led the U.S. government to
pump billions of dollars into troubled institutions such as
Citigroup, which gave Wall Street a surprise last month when
it said it was profitable in January and February.
That optimism has fueled a month-long recovery of the
stock market from 12-year lows hit in early March. Since
setting a bear market closing low on March 9, the S&P 500 has
risen 27 percent.
On Nasdaq, the bright spot was Express Scripts Inc
<ESRX.O> , up 15.5 percent at $56.81, after the company agreed
to buy WellPoint Inc's <WLP.N> NextRx subsidiaries for $4.68
billion.
A brokerage raised its 2009 profit view for Wal-Mart
Stores <WMT.N>, which lifted the stock of the world's biggest
retailer. Wal-Mart was up 1.7 percent at $51.53.
But Boeing finished the day as the Dow's biggest drag
after the aircraft maker's gloomy outlook. The stock tumbled
5.1 percent to $37.15. []
The prospect of bankruptcy for General Motors <GM.N> was
another negative weight after the New York Times reported that
the U.S. Treasury Department is directing the struggling
automaker to prepare for a bankruptcy filing by June 1 despite
the company's contention that it could reorganize outside the
court. GM slid 16.2 percent to $1.71. []
Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, where
about 1.48 billion shares changed hands, slightly below last
year's average daily volume of 1.49 billion. On the Nasdaq,
about 1.84 billion shares traded, below last year's average
daily volume of 2.28 billion.
Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a ratio of
about 3 to 2, while on the Nasdaq, the spread was about evenly
divided, with 1,353 stocks advancing and 1,358 declining.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
