US STOCKS-Wall St advances on vaccine hopes, Pepsi boost

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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: Dow 1.07%, S&P 0.89%, Nasdaq 1.27%

(Updates to open)
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 Pepsi.
Shares of German biotech firm BioNTech BNTX.O jumped 10.9%
and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer PFE.N climbed 4.3% as two
of their experimental coronavirus vaccines received the U.S.
FDA's "fast track" designation. "There are renewed expectations that the Pfizer vaccine will
be ready for approval by the end of October, which is sooner
than expected - so that's very good news," said Thomas Hayes,
managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
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 , sending its shares up 13.0%.
Analog shares fell 2.7%. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX rose 1.9%.
Pepsi Co PEP.O gained 1.5% as it benefited from a surge in
at-home consumption of salty snacks such as Fritos and Cheetos
during lockdowns. "The market is sniffing out that the worst is behind us and
is looking forward to earnings and guidance, which will more
than likely beat very low expectations," Hayes said.
Still, 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.
Recent economic data, however, has pointed to a revival in
business activity, helping the Nasdaq clinch its sixth record
close in seven weeks on Friday as broader markets rose on
positive data from Gilead's potential COVID-19 treatment.
The S&P 500 is about 6% below its own record high hit in
February.
At 10:13 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 278.85 points, or 1.07%, at 26,354.15, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 28.32 points, or 0.89%, at 3,213.36, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 134.46 points, or 1.27%, at 10,751.90.
Technology .SPLRCT , healthcare .SPXHC and consumer
discretionary .SPLRCD rose the most among the 11 major S&P
sectors.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 12% to $1,729.28, 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 1.55-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 34 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 96 new highs and nine new lows.

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