US STOCKS-Wall St rises as GE, earnings help sentiment

                                

                                
 * GE Q4 profit, revenue top estimates
                                
 * Bank of America posts loss, shares fall
                                
 * Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.4 pct, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to late morning, changes byline)
                                
 By Caroline Valetkevitch
                                
 NEW YORK, Jan 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks gained on Friday
as General Electric Co's <GE.N> earnings bolstered views the
recovery was gaining traction and helped set the market back
on its up trend after two days of declines.
                                
 But Google <GOOG.O> pared its earlier gain, briefly
turning negative and then edging back up again a day after the
world's No. 1 search engine reported earnings that beat Wall
Street's expectations. Google's pullback weighed on the
Nasdaq.
                                
 Tempering some of the earnings optimism were results from
Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, the latest bank to disappoint
investors.
                                
 Shares of General Electric Co <GE.N>, considered a
bellwether for corporate America, rose 5.6 percent to $19.46
and hit their highest level since April 30. The stock, the top
positive on the Dow, also saw the biggest daily percentage
jump since May 10.
                                
 GE reported stronger-than-expected earnings, helped by the
recovery of its finance arm and a rise in revenue at its
industrial units, including a sharp pickup in sales of
locomotives. For details, see  [ID:nN21199037]
                                
 "That's just another sign of an improving economic
situation, and improving corporate profits in America, as well
as worldwide," said Bryant Evans, investment adivsor and
portfolio manager at Cozad Asset Management, in Champaign,
Illinois.
                                
 Evans said stocks were also benefitting from the recent
price declines, which have attracted more buyers.
                                
 "There may be a certain kind of buying on the dips going
on," he said.
                                
 The S&P 500 is up 9 percent since the start of December,
but the index lost more than 1 percent over the past two days.
Many technical and other analysts see the up trend continuing
through the first half of the year.
                                
 Google Inc <GOOG.O> shares also gained 0.1 percent to
$627.59, a day after the company reported better-than-expected
net revenue for its fourth quarter. For details, see
[ID:nN20114431] The company also had announced a shakeup in
its executive suite. Earlier, Google rose to an intraday high
of $641.73.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 50.55
points, or 0.43 percent, at 11,873.35. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 5.42 points, or 0.42 percent, at
1,285.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 2.58
points, or 0.10  percent, at 2,706.87.
                                
 Bank of America shares fell 1.1 percent to $14.38 after
the largest U.S. bank by assets reported a second straight
quarterly loss, driven by a $2 billion write-down in its
mortgage business. [ID:nN20144514]
                                
 The results follow disappointing results earlier this week
from Goldman Sachs <GS.N> and Wells Fargo <WFC.N . An index of
bank shares, KBW Banks <.BKX>, was up 1.3 percent, however. 
 (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)