US STOCKS-Wall St rises as Yellen speaks; spotlight on earnings

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* Yellen asks lawmakers to "act big" on stimulus
* Bank of America, Goldman Sachs post profit beat
* Tesla gains after Jefferies raises earnings estimates
* Indexes up: Dow 0.44%, S&P 0.62%, Nasdaq 0.90%

(Adds comment; details; updates market prices)
By Devik Jain and Medha Singh
Jan 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Tuesday on positive earnings updates from major U.S. lenders,
while Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen advocated for a
hefty fiscal relief package before Senate lawmakers to ride out
the world's largest economy from a pandemic-driven slump.
At her confirmation hearing, Yellen said the benefits of a
big package outweigh the costs of a higher debt burden.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will be sworn into office on
Wednesday, outlined a $1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal
last week to jump-start the economy and accelerate the
distribution of vaccines.
"Janet Yellen is saying rates are low, let's do huge
stimulus to come out of this, and recover strong and the market
likes that so far," said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill
Capital in New York.
"The overriding theme for the next 24 hours is big stimulus,
big packages, big recovery going into the inauguration
tomorrow."
Bank of America BAC.N climbed 1.4% as it also topped
fourth-quarter profit estimates and joined JPMorgan JPM.N ,
Citigroup Inc C.N and Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N in releasing
some cash reserves to cover for coronavirus-driven loan losses,
underscoring its confidence in the economy. Big U.S. bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc's GS.N
fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, dwarfing estimates
after another blowout performance at its trading and
underwriting business. Its shares fell 0.7% in choppy trading following a sharp
surge over the last two weeks.
"These stocks need to just take a little breather before
they resume their uptrend. They're still dramatically
undervalued in intermediate to long-term," Hayes added.
Wall Street's main indexes rallied to record highs recently
on hopes of a speedy economic recovery fueled by a hefty fiscal
stimulus package and vaccine distribution.
Eight of 11 S&P sectors advanced, with economy-linked energy
.SPNY , financial .SPSY and industrials .SPLRCI among the
biggest gainers.
The defensive utilities .SPLRCU , consumer staples
.SPLRCS and real estates .SPLRCR were the only ones in the
red.
At 12:08 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 133.81 points, or 0.44%, to 30,948.09, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 23.34 points, or 0.62%, to 3,791.47 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 117.86 points, or 0.90%, to 13,116.36.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained 1.6% after Jefferies raised its
earnings estimates ahead of the electric-car maker's
fourth-quarter results next week.
Boeing Co BA.N added 1.8% as Canada said it would lift a
near two-year flight ban on its 737 MAX following two fatal
crashes involving the model while a final clearance from Europe
to resume flying the jet is expected next week.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.8-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.8-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 326 new highs and 10 new lows.