US STOCKS-Wall Street gets lift from materials firms

                                
 * Retail sales data better than expected
                                
 * Manufacturing report signals commodity demand
                                
 * Retailers Best Buy, Kroger miss estimates
                                
 * Dow up 0.8 pct, S&P up 0.5 pct, Nasdaq up 0.6 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click STXNEWS/US
 (Updates to late afternoon, changes byline)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday
to fresh 2009 highs after stronger manufacturing and retail
sales data boosted commodity prices and shares of companies in
the materials sector.
                                
 The improvement in retail sales in August reassured
investors about a rebound in demand, needed for the U.S.
economy to snap out of recession. A rise in the government's
Producer Price Index signaled increased consumption of raw
materials. For details see [ID:nN15548319].
                                
 Metals prices rose, sending shares of aluminum company
Alcoa <AA.N>, AK Steel <AKS.N> and US Steel <X.N> up more than
6 percent. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index of commodity prices
<.CRB> jumped 2 percent for its biggest gain in more than a
month, while the S&P materials sector <.GSPM> added 2.3
percent.
                                
 The rise in producer prices and a report showing stronger
New York state manufacturing suggested "demand is building
there for raw materials," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief
investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle,
Illinois.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 74.59 points,
or 0.77 percent, to 9,701.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> gained 5.61 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,054.95. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 12.49 points, or 0.60
percent, to 2,104.27.
                                
 A stronger-than-expected rise in retail sales
notwithstanding, shares of retailers got hit by disappointing
results from Best Buy Co Inc <BBY.N> and Kroger Co <KR.N>, both
of which reported quarterly profits below expectations.
                                
 Shares of electronics store Best Buy fell 5.1 percent to
$38.34 while grocer Kroger slid 8.2 percent to $20.29. The S&P
Retail index <.RLX> was down 0.25 percent.
                                
 It was the first time the S&P 500 rose above 1,050 since
early October.
                                
 Shares of General Electric <GE.N> jumped 3.9 percent to
$15.95, helped by an upwardly revised price target from
Bernstein Research. The conglomerate's sharp rebound of about
170 percent from its 2009 lows could be a harbinger of more
gains for the broader stock market in the months ahead, said
Richard Ross, global technical strategist at Auerbach Grayson.
                                
 The Nasdaq got a boost after analysts' upgrades of Web
auctioneer eBay <EBAY.O> and Internet company Yahoo <YHOO.O>.
Yahoo shares climbed 4.8 percent to $16.31 while eBay added 1.7
percent to $24.24.
                                
 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking at the
Brookings Institution on the one-year anniversary of the
collapse of Lehman Brothers <LEHMQ.PK>, said the recession "is
very likely over." For more on the Lehman anniversary see
[ID:nLEHMAN].
 (Additional reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Kenneth
Barry)