US STOCKS-Wall St rises on data, Priceline lends support

                                

                                
 * Growth in services, private jobs better than expected
                                
 * Priceline.com surges more than 20 pct
                                
 * Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.6 pct, Nasdaq up 0.9 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to close, changes byline)
                                
 By Chuck Mikolajczak
                                
 NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in thin trade
on Wednesday as retailers' earnings and a report showing a
slight improvement in private employment boosted optimism
ahead of Friday's payrolls report.
                                
 Priceline.com Inc <PCLN.O> soared 22 percent to $281.30 on
its stronger-than-expected quarterly results and outlook,
suggesting consumers are opening their wallets to spend on
travel. For details see [ID:nN04233582].
                                
 Traders also noted many stocks have low valuations, with
the S&P 500 trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of
12.6 versus 14.6 at the start of the year.
                                
 "People still have a lot of concerns about economic growth
right now and people are thinking the economy is slowing, and
these numbers haven't been strong enough to disabuse anyone of
that opinion," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at
Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.
                                
 "On the other hand, stocks continue to be very inexpensive
and if you believe 2011 earnings estimates, they are very
inexpensive."
                                
 Coach Inc <COH.N> climbed 5.9 percent to $39.30 after the
leather goods maker posted fourth-quarter results that topped
Wall Street's expectations. The S&P Retail index <.RLX> gained
2.2 percent.[ID:nN0395951]
                                
 Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed the
services sector grew at a faster pace than expected in July.
In a separate report, payroll-processing company ADP said
private employers added more jobs in July than forecast.
[ID:nN04224566].
                                
 Friday's government report on jobs is expected to show a
drop of 65,000 in July as Census jobs dried up.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 44.05
points, or 0.41 percent, to 10,680.43. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> added 6.78 points, or 0.61 percent, to
1,127.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> advanced 20.05
points, or 0.88 percent, to 2,303.57.
                                
 Priceline was the top performer in both the S&P 500 <.SPX>
and the Nasdaq 100 <.NDX>.
                                
 With 80 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported
quarterly results, estimated and reported earnings growth
stands at 37.3 percent for the previous quarter, up from an
estimate of 27.4 percent a month ago, according to Thomson
Reuters Proprietary Research.
                                
 Barnes & Noble <BKS.N> surged 19.2 percent to $15.31 after
the No. 1 U.S. bookstore chain put itself up for sale as
business suffers in the high-stakes battle for a leading role
in the digital books market.
                                
 Shares of industry giant Amazon.com <AMZN.O>, which sells
the Kindle electronic reader and e-books, rose 4.2 percent to
$127.58.
                                
 Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> added 2.1 percent to
$156.41 as the Wall Street firm plans to spin off its
proprietary trading business as early as this month to comply
with the U.S. financial reform package signed into law last
month, according to a CNBC report. [ID:nN04191787].
                                
 Volume was light, with about 7.3 billion shares traded on
the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and
Nasdaq, well below last year's estimated daily average of 9.65
billion.
                                
 Advancing stocks handily outnumbered declining ones on the
New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of nearly 3-to-1, while on
the Nasdaq, two stocks rose for every one that fell.
 (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)