US STOCKS-Wall St rises as market anticipates additional U.S. stimulus

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* Tesla gains after Jefferies raises earnings estimates
* Yellen asks lawmakers to "act big" on stimulus
* Bank of America, Goldman Sachs post profit beat
* Dow up 0.49%, S&P 500 up 0.91%, Nasdaq up 1.49%

(Adds comment; updates market prices; add New York dateline;
change byline)
By Echo Wang
Jan 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Tuesday as U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen
advocated for a hefty fiscal relief package before lawmakers to
help the world's largest economy ride out a pandemic-driven
slump.
At her confirmation hearing, Yellen said the benefits of a
big package outweigh the costs of a higher debt burden.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will be sworn into office on
Wednesday, outlined a $1.9 trillion stimulus package proposal
last week to jump-start the economy and accelerate the
distribution of vaccines.
"The key driver is really the additional stimulus coming our
way," said Jeffrey Carbone, managing partner at Cornerstone
Wealth, in Huntersville, North Carolina.
"With Janet Yellen saying we need more, so the market is
anticipating additional stimulus coming out of Washington. The
market is kind of warming up to the notion that there's more
coming. And they are going to run with it."
With earnings season underway, Bank of America BAC.N rose
as much as 1.8% as it also topped fourth-quarter profit
estimates and joined JPMorgan JPM.N , Citigroup Inc C.N and
Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N in releasing some cash reserves to
cover for coronavirus-driven loan losses, underscoring its
confidence in the economy. The stock pared gains however and was
last about flat. Big U.S. bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc's GS.N
fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, dwarfing estimates
after another blowout performance at its trading and
underwriting business. Its shares fell 1.95%, erasing an earlier climb of 1.9%. The
S&P financial sector .SPSY has been among the best performers
to start the year, rising more than 5%.
"These stocks need to just take a little breather before
they resume their uptrend. They're still dramatically
undervalued in intermediate to long term," Hayes added.
"Goldman had really strong numbers, mainly on the
trading..Retail investors are buying more stocks which is
showing up in firms like Goldman, BofA. And banks that have
investment arms are really running strong because of their
investment side," Carbone added.
Wall Street's main indexes rallied to record highs recently
on hopes of a speedy economic recovery fueled by a hefty fiscal
stimulus package and vaccine distribution.
Eight of 11 S&P sectors advanced, with economy-linked energy
.SPNY , leading the way higher, up 2.29%.
The defensive utilities .SPLRCU , consumer staples
.SPLRCS and real estate .SPLRCR were the only ones in the
red.
By 2:02 p.m. ET (1902 GMT(, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI rose 150.7 points, or 0.49%, to 30,964.96, the S&P 500
.SPX gained 34.34 points, or 0.91%, to 3,802.59 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC added 193.12 points, or 1.49%, to 13,191.62.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained 2.14% after Jefferies raised its
earnings estimates ahead of the electric-car maker's
fourth-quarter results next week.
Boeing Co BA.N added 3.08% as Canada said it would lift a
near two-year flight ban on its 737 MAX following two fatal
crashes involving the model while a final clearance from Europe
to resume flying the jet is expected next week.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.86-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.04-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 32 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 271 new highs and eight new lows.