US STOCKS-Wall Street rises as U.S. manufacturing expands in January

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* Google-parent Alphabet rises ahead of results
* Nike rises as JP Morgan adds stock to its focus list
* Gilead rises on testing Ebola drug for coronavirus
* Exxon Mobil falls after Goldman Sachs downgrade
* Indexes up: Dow 0.81%, S&P 0.86%, Nasdaq 1.34%

(Changes comment, adds details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh
Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Monday as gains in
Amazon and Nike as well as a surprise rebound in U.S. factory
activity helped markets attempt a recovery from steep weekly
losses due to concerns about the coronavirus epidemic.
ISM data showed the manufacturing sector expanded in January
after five straight months of contraction, indicating that a
prolonged slump in business investment has probably bottomed
out. "Sure we've been held back on worries about coronavirus, but
this morning it's been a story of data showing U.S. economy is
really strong," said John Brady, managing director at R.J.
O'Brien & Associates in Chicago.
Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O gained 2.7% ahead of
its quarterly results, which will wrap up earnings for the
so-called FAANG group of stocks.
Shares of Nike Inc NKE.N rose 4.6% after JP Morgan added
the footwear maker to its focus list and provided the biggest
boost to the Dow Industrials .DJI .
Also helping the mood was an intervention by China's central
bank to improve liquidity and relieve pressure on its economy
from the impact of the virus outbreak. Concerns over the financial impact of the flu-like virus
escalated last week after the World Health Organization declared
it as a global emergency.
On Friday, the Dow .DJI shed more than 600 points, the
S&P 500 .SPX posted its worst week in six months and the
Nasdaq .IXIC suffered its steepest weekly decline in four
months.
"It may have been overdone last week. It's very hard to get
a grasp of things like pandemics. We're still in the spreading
stage and it's difficult to say whether it's over or not," Brady
said.
At 11:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 228.60 points, or 0.81%, at 28,484.63, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 27.65 points, or 0.86%, at 3,253.17. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 122.45 points, or 1.34%, at 9,273.39.
The consumer discretionary index .SPLRCD gained 1.1%, the
most among the 11 major S&P indexes, while technology .SPLRCT
stocks provided the biggest support to the benchmark index.
Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O gained 4.3% after the drugmaker
said it has provided its experimental Ebola therapy for use in a
small number of patients affected by the coronavirus in China.
Tesla TSLA.O jumped 12.2% as Japan's Panasonic Corp
6752.T posted its first ever quarterly profit in its U.S.
battery business with the electric-car maker. Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N dropped 2.4% after Goldman Sachs
downgraded the oil major's shares to "sell".
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.31-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.31-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 23 new 52-week highs and seven new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 51 new highs and 54 new lows.