US STOCKS-Wall St rebounds as small-time traders turn to silver

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* iShares Silver Trust ETF set for best day since 2008
* Wall Street's fear gauge eases from 3-month high
* Indexes up: Dow 0.78%, S&P 0.1.34%, Nasdaq 1.95%

(Adds comment; updates prices)
By Devik Jain and Medha Singh
Feb 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes climbed on
Monday following a steep sell-off last week, as a shift in the
retail trading frenzy to silver drove up mining stocks and
investors monitored progress in talks over economic stimulus.
The iShares Silver Trust ETF SLV.N , the largest
silver-backed ETF, jumped 7.2% as silver broke above $30 an
ounce for the first time since 2013 with an army of retail
traders storming into the metal after betting billions of
dollars on stocks last week. Silver miners Hecla Mining Co HL.N , Coeur Mining Inc
CDE.N and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp WPM.N surged between
5% and 26%.
Wall Street's main indexes last week logged their steepest
weekly fall since October, as investors digested efficacy data
from Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine trial results, while a
slugfest between Wall Street hedge funds and retail investors
added to volatility.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX eased on Monday from
three-month highs that were fueled by a surge in shares of
GameStop Corp GME.N , AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC.N and
others that burnt hedge funds which had bet against the
companies. GameStop was down about 18%, while AMC jumped another
8% on Monday.
"It's just a relief rally after the sharp decline on
Friday," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan
Capital Securities in New York.
The wild swings in the so-called "meme" stocks dominated
news on Wall Street last week, even as Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and other corporate heavyweights
reported quarterly results.
Focus now turns towards quarterly earnings from Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O and Google-owner Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O on Tuesday
to wrap up results from the so-called FAANG group. The NYSE
FANG+TM index .NYFANG gained 1.6%.
President Joe Biden will meet 10 moderate Republican
senators on Monday to discuss their proposal to shrink his
sweeping $1.9 trillion U.S. COVID-19 relief package, even as
Democrats prepare to push legislation through Congress without
Republican support. "Democrats could force through the larger package through
resolution and based on the noise out of the administration,
that may be the path that they're going to take," said Phillip
Toews, chief executive officer and portfolio manager for Toews
Corp in New York.
Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors advanced, with technology
.SPLRCT leading gains. Energy .SPNY and consumer staples
.SPLRCS lagged the most.
At 11:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 234.49 points, or 0.78%, to 30,216.76, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 49.88 points, or 1.34%, to 3,764.12 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 254.82 points, or 1.95%, to 13,325.52.
The latest ISM survey was mixed as U.S. manufacturing
activity slowed slightly in January, while a measure of prices
paid by factories for raw materials and other inputs jumped to
its highest level in nearly 10 years. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.6-to-1 on the
NYSE and by a 2.2-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and no new low
while the Nasdaq recorded 88 new highs and 21 new lows.