US STOCKS-Wall St advances on positive start to earnings, vaccine hopes

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* Analog Devices rises on $21 bln deal to buy rival Maxim
* Pepsi gains as results beat on higher demand for snacks
* Pfizer, BioNTech get 'fast track' status for vaccine
candidates
* Indexes up: Dow 1.53%, S&P 1.30%, Nasdaq 1.76%

(Add quote, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Monday with the Nasdaq at a fresh intraday record high as
investors cheered signs of progress in COVID-19 vaccine
development and an upbeat start to the second-quarter earnings
season by PepsiCo.
Shares of German biotech firm BioNTech BNTX.O jumped 19.6%
and Pfizer Inc PFE.N climbed 4.2% as two of their experimental
coronavirus vaccines received the U.S. FDA's "fast track"
designation. "It's selective optimism as we enter earnings season,
chasing the same stocks that have been strong and looking
forward to earnings as market continues to have a narrow focus,"
said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in
Bernardsville, New Jersey.
Merger news also perked up investors as Analog Devices Inc
ADI.O announced a $21 billion deal to buy rival Maxim
Integrated Products Inc MXIM.O , whose shares rose 11.4%.
Analog shares fell 3.4%. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX rose 1.8%.
PepsiCo Inc PEP.O gained 2.2% as it benefited from a surge
in at-home consumption of salty snacks such as Fritos and
Cheetos during lockdowns. Investors are bracing for what could be the sharpest drop in
quarterly earnings for S&P 500 firms since the financial crisis,
according to IBES Refinitiv data. Results from big banks will be
in focus this week.
The April-June reports will reveal the extent of the damage
wreaked by coronavirus-induced lockdowns on corporate profits.
With a record jump in cases in the United States and some other
hotspots around the world, analysts have predicted a return to
S&P 500 earnings growth only by 2021.
Fatality rates from the coronavirus are holding reasonably
stable, allowing markets to look beyond the increase in new
cases and toward continued improvement in economic data and the
recovery going forward, said Michael Arone, chief investment
strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.
The S&P 500 is about 5% below its own record high hit in
February.
At 11:15 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 399.92 points, or 1.53%, at 26,475.22, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 41.46 points, or 1.30%, at 3,226.50. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 187.18 points, or 1.76%, at 10,804.62.
Technology .SPLRCT , healthcare .SPXHC and consumer
discretionary .SPLRCD rose the most among the 11 major S&P
sectors.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 14.4% to $1,767.26, building on a
rally of nearly 25% in the past two consecutive weeks. Over the
weekend, it slashed the price for its Model Y SUV. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.94-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 38 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 111 new highs and 12 new lows.

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