US STOCKS-Wall Street stages late rally on Geithner news

                                
 * Indexes rally on reports of Geithner nod for Treasury
                                
 * Energy companies rise alongside higher oil prices
                                
 * Citigroup reportedly mulls sales, stock plummets
                                
 * Dow up 6.5 pct, S&P 500 up 6.3 pct, Nasdaq up 5.2 pct
  * For up-to-the-minute market news, please click on
STXNEWS/US
 (Updates to close)
                                
 By Leah Schnurr
                                
 NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks stormed higher in
a late rally on Friday to cap another volatile week as
investors welcomed reports that President-elect Barack Obama
has chosen his point person to combat the U.S. economic crisis,
instilling confidence about the administration's ability to
take action.
                                
 Stocks limped into the day after a back-to-back pummeling
that had left the S&P 500 at an 11-year low, and spent most of
the day drifting in and out of positive territory. Markets shot
higher around 3 p.m. when NBC news reported that Timothy
Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
would be nominated as U.S. Treasury secretary, driving the Dow
and the S&P up more than 6 percent.
                                
 The news lifted uncertainty over who Obama would appoint to
lead Treasury amid the worst economic crisis since the Great
Depression.
                                
 "It is a bit of good news in that it takes the uncertainty
out," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading
in Chatham, New Jersey. "Any time you take uncertainty out of
Wall Street, they love it."
                                
 Angel Mata, managing director of listed equity trading at
Stifel Nicolaus Capital in Baltimore, said the news on Geithner
raised hopes there could be "some direction from Washington as
to how we're going to proceed with the balance of the TARP and
how we're going to proceed with the Citi situation and with the
situation in general with the banks."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> jumped 494.13
points, or 6.54 percent, to 8,046.42. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> shot up 47.59 points, or 6.32 percent, at 800.03.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 68.23 points, or
5.18 percent, to 1,384.35.
                                
 The S&P financial index <.GSPF>, which had been down as
much as 7.3 percent earlier in day as worries about the future
of Citigroup dragged on the sector, reversed course after the
Geithner news to end up 3.4 percent.
                                
 Climbing energy companies also boosted the market as the
price of oil rose from a three-and-a-half-year low. Exxon Mobil
<XOM.N> jumped more than 10 percent.
                                
 For the week, the Dow lost 5.3 percent, the S&P 500 fell
8.4 percent, and the Nasdaq lost 8.8 percent. Friday's gains
made it the best day in just over a week.
                                
 Investors found the news on Geithner compelling enough to
set aside the uncertainty surrounding the fates of U.S. banking
icon Citigroup <C.N> and automotive companies General Motors
<GM.N> and Ford <F.N>.
                                
 In a choppy day, markets vacillated between negative and
positive territory, alternately weighed by jitters over the
outlook for financials and the economy, but lifted as investors
scoured the markets for bargains.
                                
 U.S. front month crude <CLc1> rose 51 cents to $49.93 a
barrel. Exxon Mobil <XOM.N> was the biggest boost for the Dow,
gaining 10.7 percent to $75.81. An S&P index of energy
companies <.GSPE> jumped 11.7 percent.
                                
 But Citigroup remained a weight on the markets, falling 20
percent to $3.77, following news reports that the company is
considering selling pieces of its business or the entire
company outright.
                                
 Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit tried to downplay
speculation that the bank might sell major businesses. Pandit
told employees that the company does not want to change its
business model, according to two people who heard him. For
details, see [ID:nN21477317].
                                
 Besides Citigroup, shares of JPMorgan <JPM.N>  declined 2.8
percent to $22.72.
                                
 Among gainers, Bank of America <BAC.N> rose 2 percent to
$11.47.
                                
 The failure of U.S. automakers, including General Motors
Corp <GM.N>, to secure an immediate government bailout to avert
possible bankruptcy lingered, although GM and Ford recovered
from earlier losses to close up 6.3 percent at $3.06, and 2.9
percent to $1.43, respectively.
                                
 Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N> rose 4.5 percent to $52.92
after the world's largest retailer said Lee Scott was retiring
as chief executive and it named Mike Duke, who heads Wal-Mart's
international operations, as his successor. [ID:nN21465040]
                                
 Microsoft <MSFT.O> jumped 12.3 percent to $19.68, after
Oppenheimer upgraded the Dow component to "outperform."
                                
 Trading was heavy on the New York Stock Exchange, with
about 2.37 billion shares changing hands, above last year's
estimated daily average of roughly 1.9 billion, while on
Nasdaq, about 3.08 billion shares traded, above last year's
daily average of 2.17 billion.
                                
 Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by
2,027 to 1,161, while advancers beat decliners on the Nasdaq by
about 1,670 to 1,115.
 (Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Leslie
Adler)