US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq up as tech stocks rise after J&J vaccine pause

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* J&J shares hit one-month low
* Rival vaccine makers Pfizer, Moderna jump
* Big bank earnings to kick off from Wednesday
* Crypto-stocks jump ahead of Coinbase IPO
* Indexes: Dow off 0.33%, S&P up 0.09%, Nasdaq up 0.58%

(Updates to market open)
By Medha Singh and Shivani Kumaresan
April 13 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on
Tuesday as investors flocked to the perceived safety of
technology-related stocks as the U.S. pause in the rollout of
Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine sparked fears of a delay in
a broader economic rebound.
The drugmaker's shares JNJ.N fell 2.2% to a one-month low
as U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing the use of
its COVID-19 vaccine after six women developed rare blood clots,
dealing a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic.
Technology .SPLRCT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD
sectors, which house high-flying technology names that tend to
outperform during times of economic uncertainty, rose 0.6% and
0.4%, respectively.
The news also helped Wall Street's main indexes shrug off a
solid jump in the consumer price index (CPI) in March, kicking
off what most economists expect will be a brief period of higher
inflation. "While the jump in CPI is pretty significant, the market may
take it with a grain of salt - it could already be priced in as
the market has been skittish about rates for some time," said
Mike Loewengart, managing director at investment strategy at
E*TRADE Financial.
"The real curveball today is the J&J vaccine halt, although
this too may be shrugged off as a minor setback. While this may
cause some short-term volatility, investors have been pretty
steadfast in their faith in a full economic recovery."
White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said it was too
soon to say what impact the pause could have on President Joe
Biden's push to reopen the country. Shares of rival U.S. vaccine makers Pfizer Inc PFE.N and
Moderna Inc MRNA.O rose 0.6% and 7.1%.
At 10:24 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 109.87 points, or 0.33%, at 33,635.53, the S&P 500
.SPX was up 3.60 points, or 0.09%, at 4,131.59, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 81 points, or 0.58%, at 13,931.
Heavyweight tech-related companies, which had flourished
during the lockdowns last year, rose on Tuesday with Apple Inc
AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O
gaining between 0.5% and 0.8%.
Meanwhile, cruise operators, airlines and hotel chains that
are poised to benefit from an economic reopening, driven by
vaccine distributions, edged lower.
The first-quarter earnings season is set to take center
stage this week, with results from Goldman Sachs GS.N ,
JPMorgan JPM.N and Wells Fargo WFC.N due on Wednesday.
Analysts expect earnings for S&P 500 firms to have jumped
25% from a year earlier, driven by strength in consumer
discretionary and financial companies, according to Refinitiv
IBES data.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms Riot Blockchain
RIOT.O jumped 7.6% and Marathon Digital Holdings MARA.O
added 5.7% as bitcoin prices BTC=BTSP soared 5%, a day ahead
of listing of Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency
exchange. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.56-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.50-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 27 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 30 new highs and 55 new lows.