US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow rise as Powell, Yellen signal confidence in recovery

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* Intel gains on $20 bln chip expansion announcement
* GameStop slumps on plans to sell shares
* Energy stocks jump 3% as oil prices rebound
* Indexes: Dow up 0.88%, S&P up 0.51%, Nasdaq off 0.40%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Devik Jain and Medha Singh
March 24 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow rose on
Wednesday on a boost from economy-linked financial and
industrial stocks as Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury
Secretary Janet Yellen offered an optimistic view of a recovery
from the coronavirus pandemic.
The top economic officials' prepared remarks mirrored those
delivered on Tuesday before the Congress, with Yellen signaling
U.S. banks look healthy enough to be allowed to pay dividends
and repurchase stock. Wall Street's main indexes have flipped between gains and
losses this week as easing bond yields prompted a return to
beaten-down technology stocks from energy and financial stocks
that stand to benefit from a reopening economy.
Adding to the positive momentum, data showed U.S. factory
activity picked up in early March amid strong growth in new
orders. However, supply chain disruptions continued to exert
cost pressures for manufacturers, keeping inflation fears in
focus.
"In order for the market to bottom we need to have more
fear, and I don't feel like the market has fear right now.
Everybody's bullish about the prospects of a recovery right
now," said David Yepez, lead equity analyst and portfolio
manager at Exencial Wealth Advisors.
Financials .SPSY and industrials .SPLRCI added about
1.5% each, while energy .SPNY jumped about 3% as crude prices
rebounded from a 6% fall in the last session. O/R
At 11:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 284.36 points, or 0.88%, at 32,707.51, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 19.95 points, or 0.51%, at 3,930.47, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 53.11 points, or 0.40%, at 13,174.59.
Facebook Inc FB.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O slipped 0.6% as premarket
gains fizzled out.
Intel Corp INTC.O edged 0.1% higher as the company, in its
efforts to expand chip making capacity, announced plans to spend
as much as $20 billion to build two factories in Arizona and
open its factories to outside customers. U.S.-listed shares of rival Taiwan Semiconductor TSM.N
dropped 2.5%, while semiconductor equipment makers Lam Research
Corp LRCX.O , Applied Materials Inc AMAT.O and ASML Holding
ASML.O gained between 3.3% and 6.4%.
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP gained 3% as Tesla Inc's TSLA.O chief,
Elon Musk, said the company's electric vehicles can now be
bought using bitcoin and the option will be available outside
the United States later this year. GameStop Corp GME.N tumbled 13% after the videogame
retailer said it might cash in on a meteoric rise in its share
price to fund its e-commerce expansion.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 2.06-to-1 on the
NYSE, while declining issues outnumbered advancers 1.11-to-1 on
the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 12 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 77 new lows.