* "Tremendous progress" cited in bailout talks
* Market shrugs off bleak data, GE's profit warning
* Financials, technology shares among standouts
* Dow up 2.02 pct, S&P 500 up 2, Nasdaq up 1.8 pct
(Updates to midmorning)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday,
led by a rally in financial shares, as investors bet that
Congress might be close to a deal on a $700 billion financial
sector bailout, overshadowing bleak economic data that included
a sharp slide in new home sales.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N> , the No. 3 U.S. bank,
rose nearly 8 percent to $43.77 on the New York Stock Exchange,
making the stock a top boost to the S&P 500.
Investors are betting that the approval of the bailout, one
of the costliest since the Great Depression, will help
stabilize the economy, facilitate bank lending and revive the
business and consumer spending needed for corporate profits.
Hopes that the bailout might get approved soon gained
momentum a day after U.S. President George W. Bush said the
United States was in a serious financial crisis.
Bank of America <BAC.N> shares jumped more than 4 percent,
while the S&P financial index <.GSPF> shot up 3.4 percent.
Investors also snapped up technology shares, with International
Business Machines <IBM.N>, up more than 2 percent, a top boost
to the Dow.
"I certainly think that Congress will pass something and
that will help for a little while. It gives us some time to
unwind some of (the) positions and see where we stand when the
smoke clears," said Warren Simpson, managing director at
Stephens Capital Management in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 218.40 points,
or 2.02 percent, to 11,043.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> gained 22.56 points, or 1.90 percent, to 1,208.43. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> climbed 39.20 points, or 1.82
percent, to 2,194.88.
Bank of America shares rose to $34.34 on the NYSE, while
technology services company IBM rose to $118.79.
On Nasdaq, shares of Apple Inc <AAPL.O>, maker of the iPod
and iPhone, rose 2 percent to $131.26.
The market's advance came despite Thursday's economic
reports that were bleak all around and a profit warning from
General Electric <GE.N>, off nearly 2 percent at $24.10.
One report showed that the number of people filing for
jobless benefits unexpectedly surged in the latest week.
Other government data showed a sharper-than-expected slide
in orders for durable goods and a drop in sales of new
single-family homes in August to their lowest in 17 years.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans plan to meet on
Thursday to draft a final bipartisan plan.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, the Democratic chairman of a
House panel on capital markets, told CNBC that Congress is
making "tremendous progress" on the bailout bill.
(Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke, Editing by Kenneth
Barry)
