US STOCKS-Wall Street rises ahead of Georgia Senate election results

* Voters head to polling booths in Georgia
* U.S.-listed Chinese cos jump after NYSE flips delisting
decision
* Micron jumps after Citi's double upgrade
* Wall Street's fear gauge slips after Monday's surge
* Dow up 0.79%, S&P 500 up 0.87%, Nasdaq up 0.91%

(Updates to midday, adds new comment, updates prices, changes
byline)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street shares gained on
Tuesday in choppy trading, as investors took advantage of the
previous session's slump to buy them back, ahead of the outcome
of the Senate runoff elections in the battleground state of
Georgia.
The Georgia election will determine the balance of power in
Washington.
Overall, Analysts expect the stock market to consolidate
December's gains in January, as asset managers looked to
rebalance their portfolios that had been heavily tilted toward
equities.
The latest polls from data website 538 https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/georgia-senate-polls
gave a slight edge to the two Democratic challengers who need
to win both races for Democrats to gain U.S. Senate control from
Republicans.
Along with their narrow majority in the House of
Representatives, a "blue sweep" of Congress could usher in
larger fiscal stimulus. It could also pave the way for
President-elect Joe Biden to push through greater corporate
regulation and higher taxes. "Historically after a strong December, January's returns
tend to be more muted and this January may be more muted with
the Georgia elections providing some volatility along with the
uncertainty toward tax policies," said King Lip, chief
investment strategist at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San
Francisco.
The Cboe Volatility Index .VIX flip-flopped after closing
at its highest level in two months on Monday, which saw Wall
Street's main indexes drop to two-week lows as investors booked
profits at the start of the year. By 2:23 p.m .ET (1923 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI was up 235.92 points, or 0.78%, to 30,459.81, the S&P 500
.SPX gained 32.11 points, or 0.87%, to 3,732.76 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC added 117.66 points, or 0.93%, to 12,816.10.
Energy stocks .SPNY jumped about 7% on the back of higher
oil prices. O/R
Consumer staples .SPLRCS , utilities .SPLRCU and
healthcare .SPXHC were the laggards.
Although the start of vaccine rollouts and massive monetary
support powered the major U.S. stock indexes to record levels
recently, the discovery of a more contagious variant of the
coronavirus and the latest virus-related curbs have muddied the
economic outlook.
Britain, where new variant first emerged, began its third
national lockdown, while New York on Monday found its first case
of the highly contagious mutation of the coronavirus.
In terms of economic data, stocks got a boost from a survey
by the Institute of Supply Management, which showed that U.S.
manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in nearly 2-1/2
years in December, likely as spiraling new COVID-19 infections
pulled demand away from services towards goods. Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc MU.O rose about 3.8% after
Citigroup raised its rating on the stock to "buy" on
expectations of a recovery in demand and pricing for DRAM chips.
U.S.-listed shares of China Telecom Corp Ltd CHA.N and
China Mobile Ltd CHL.N added about 7.1% and 8.6% respectively,
while those of China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd CHU.N advanced 12%
after the NYSE reversed its decision to delist the stocks.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.35-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.67-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 106 new highs and four new lows.
"We remain bullish on stocks, but we're going to bounce
around. January is going to be pretty choppy," said Baker
Avenue's Lip.