US STOCKS-Wall St rises on upbeat housing, retail data

                                

                                
 * November retail sales rise
                                
 * Pending home sales surge
                                
 * Goldman Sachs sees S&P 500 at 1,450 by end of 2011
                                
 * Dow up 0.7 pct, S&P up 0.7 pct, Nasdaq up 0.6 pct
                                
 * for up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
  (Updates to morning trading)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Thursday
after upbeat data on housing and retail sales and as European
officials extended a liquidity safety net for vulnerable banks,
soothing investor anxiety about the region's debt crisis.
                                
 U.S. retailers reported higher-than-forecast sales for
November, while pending home sales unexpectedly surged in
October, hinting the economic recovery has legs. Also, the
four-week moving average for jobless claims fell to a fresh
two-year low, though new claims were higher for the week. For
details, see [ID:nN02149928]
                                
 "Fear is evaporating ever so slightly. The economy is not
falling off a cliff, giving investors a glimmer of hope," said
Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort
Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 74.73
points, or 0.66 percent, to 11,330.51. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> rose 8.96 points, or 0.74 percent, to
1,215.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 16.07
points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,565.50.
                                
 Financial shares led gains, with the KBW bank index <.BKX>
up 3.1 percent. Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> added 3.5 percent to
$28.49.
                                
 "The ECB and Federal Reserve have implied they are not
going to let that segment fail," said Forrest. "They are
allowing years for banks to work out the problems that they are
in."
                                
 Further supporting stocks, the euro rose against the U.S.
dollar on talk the European Central Bank had been buying
government bonds of so-called peripheral euro-zone nations. The
euro has recently traded in the same direction as U.S.
equities. [USD/]
                                
 The Dow and the S&P 500 scored their biggest gains in three
months on Wednesday as optimism over efforts to resolve the
EU's debt crisis helped push the S&P above 1,200.
                                
 If the S&P 500 continues to hold above that level, the
market uptrend will see strong resistance at 1,225-1,230, which
coincides with a recent two-year high and the 61.8 percent
Fibonacci retracement of the benchmark's slide from October
2007 to March 2009, a key technical indicator.
                                
 Goldman Sachs forecast on Thursday that the S&P 500 will
close 2011 at 1,450, boosted by positive earnings amid a
steadily improving U.S. economy. It also upgraded the
financials, energy and consumer discretionary sectors.
                                
 U.S. President Barack Obama's top economic advisers were to
resume negotiations Thursday with congressional leaders, hoping
to break a deadlock over expiring tax cuts. [ID:nN01129519]
                                
 In company news, PepsiCo Inc <PEP.N> agreed to buy Russian
juice and dairy producer Wimm-Bill-Dann <WBD.N>. Wimm-Bill-Dann
U.S.-traded shares jumped 28.1 percent to $31.38.
[ID:nLDE6B110R].
                                
 American International Group Inc <AIG.N> shares edged up
0.6 percent to $42.54 after Reuters reported the insurer could
receive at least three separate bids for its Taiwan unit. AIG
rose 1.3 percent to $42.84. [ID:nTPV002217]
  (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos)