US STOCKS-Wall St gains on earnings outlooks, financials

                                
  
                                
 * Best Buy up after results, forecast; Corning also up
                                
 * Qualcomm raises Q2 outlook
                                
 * Initial jobless claims fall sharply
                                
 * Dow up 1 pct, S&P up 1.1 pct, Nasdaq up 1.3 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US]
  (Updates to midday, changes byline)
                                
 By Caroline Valetkevitch
                                
 NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped on
Thursday as Qualcomm and Best Buy boosted their profit
outlooks and financials surged for a second day.
                                
 Financials led the S&P 500's advance, with shares of
Citigroup Inc <C.N> jumping 4.8 percent to $4.35 after
Bloomberg News reported the U.S. Treasury could unveil a plan
next month for the sale of its stake in the big bank.
                                
 Wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc <QCOM.O> led the Nasdaq
up slightly over 1 percent.
                                
 Electronics retailer Best Buy Co <BBY.N> forecast
stronger-than-expected earnings for the current year on
improved demand and reported above-expectations quarterly
results.
                                
 Best Buy gained 5.3 percent to $43.38, while shares of
Corning <GLW.N>, which makes glass for liquid crytal displays,
jumped 3 percent to $20.05.
                                
 "People are looking to earnings right now to see how
consumers (are doing) and whether the recovery is taking
hold," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook
Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 108.53
points, or 1.00 percent, at 10,944.68. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 12.54 points, or 1.07 percent, at
1,180.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 31.78
points, or 1.32 percent, at 2,430.51.
                                
 Qualcomm's stock rose 6 percent to $42.61 after it raised
its second-quarter earnings outlook. For details,
see[ID:nN25222168]
                                
  Shares of Oracle <ORCL.O> rose 1.6 percent to $26.18
ahead of  its results, expected after the day's close.
                                
 First-quarter earnings reports, due in the coming weeks,
are forecast to show year-over-year gains.
                                
 Adding to the positive tone, data showed the number of
U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment
insurance fell sharply last week. [ID:nN25214871]
                                
 Other financial shares with sharp gains included Bank of
America <BAC.N>, up 3.9 percent at $18.26. The S&P financial
index <.GSPF> was up 2.4 percent at midday, and it is up 11.1
percent for the month so far.
 (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)