US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow rise on boost from bank earnings

* Goldman Sachs up as profit jumps on record dealmaking
* JPMorgan falls despite profit surging nearly five-fold
* Coinbase will list on Nasdaq later in the day
* Dow up 0.62%, S&P adds 0.08%, Nasdaq down 0.22%

(Adds comments, updates to early afternoon)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 14 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow rose on
Wednesday after upbeat earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and
JPMorgan boosted investor expectations of a strong rebound for
corporate America amid swift COVID-19 vaccinations.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N rose 3.9% after it reported a
massive jump in first-quarter profit, capitalizing on record
levels of global dealmaking activity. JPMorgan Chase & Co's JPM.N shares fell 1.0% even as the
largest U.S. bank's earnings jumped almost 400% in the first
quarter, as it released more than $5 billion in reserves it had
set aside to cover coronavirus-driven loan defaults.
Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N jumped 5.5% after the bank bounced
back to a profit of almost $5 billion in the first quarter,
ahead of Wall Street estimates as it reduced bad loan provisions
and got a grip on the costs tied to its sales practices scandal.
"The bank earnings were strong, but the market expected them
to be strong. So I think easy money has been made in the
cyclical areas and it is going to be a little difficult now
going forward," said Christopher Grisanti, chief equity
strategist at MAI Capital Management.
"So the question becomes how do the bank stocks rise more
from here. That's not clear. They have had a nice ride. I think
there will be other places to make money more easily in the
future."
The Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC was down 30.79 points, or
0.22%, at 13,965.31 in early afternoon trading, with high-flying
technology stocks including Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O and Tesla Inc TSLA.O weighing on the index.
Five out of the 11 main S&P 500 sectors were higher in early
trading, with financials .SPSY up 1.1%, while the S&P 500
banks index .SPXBK added 1.4%. The S&P 500 energy sector
.SPNY jumped 4.1%, tracking higher oil prices. O/R
The S&P 500 financials sector was one of the best performers
in the first quarter, rising 15%, even as the Federal Reserve
pledged to keep interest rates low in the near future.
Earnings for S&P 500 companies in the quarter are estimated
to have risen 25%, according to Refinitiv IBES data. That would
be the biggest quarterly gain since 2018, when tax cuts under
former President Donald Trump had powered profit growth.
Earnings at S&P 500 firms had dropped 12.8% in the first
quarter of 2020 and 30.6% in the second, according to IBES data
from Refinitiv.
At 12:19 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 209.17 points, or 0.62%, at 33,886.44 and the S&P 500
.SPX was up 3.13 points, or 0.08%, at 4,144.72.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms including Riot
Blockchain RIOT.O and Marathon Digital Holdings MARA.O rose
ahead of Coinbase Global Inc's COIN.O listing on the Nasdaq, a
day after bitcoin hit a record high of over $63,000.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.40-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.05-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 66 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 79 new highs and 24 new lows.