US STOCKS-Wall Street rallies on vaccine bets, Goldman results

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* Goldman Sachs rises as trading revenue doubles
* Energy, industrial, financial sectors lead
* Indexes: Dow +0.9%, S&P 500 +0.9%, Nasdaq +0.6%

(Updates with price moves, additional details)
By Noel Randewich
July 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on
Wednesday, with the S&P 500 at its highest since early June,
following promising early data for a potential COVID-19 vaccine
and a strong quarterly report from Goldman Sachs.
Moderna Inc MRNA.O rallied 6.9% after a small-scale study
showed its experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced high levels of
virus-killing antibodies. Travel-related stocks Carnival Corp CCL.N , Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd RCL.N , Marriott International MAR.O and Wynn
Resorts WYNN.O surged between 7% and 21%, and the S&P 1500
airlines index .SPCOMAIR rallied over 10%.
The S&P 500 beat the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite for a
fourth straight session, a feat scored only twice since Wall
Street launched its massive recovery last March. Gains for the Nasdaq were capped by online retail giant
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , video streaming platform Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , which slipped after
surging to record highs recently.
"The Moderna news woke everybody up again that this is not
going to last forever, and there is light at the end of the
tunnel. That is why you are seeing such a strong move today into
those economically sensitive stocks," said Tim Ghriskey, Chief
Investment Strategist Inverness Counsel in New York.
Adding to investors' enthusiasm, the Federal Reserve's Beige
Book survey showed U.S. businesses saw an uptick in activity
into the beginning of July as states eased restrictions to
contain the novel coronavirus pandemic. A raft of stimulus measures and encouraging economic data
have lifted the S&P 500 to about 5% below its record high hit in
February.
However, the United States has failed to control the
coronavirus and there is a high level of uncertainty over how
much the pandemic will affect the economy, Philadelphia Federal
Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker said, as a number of U.S.
sunbelt states reported a surge in COVID-19 cases recently.
Near the end of the trading session, U.S. President Donald
Trump said his administration had completed a top to bottom
overhaul of the infrastructure approval process.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.85% to end at
26,870.03 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.91% to
3,226.55.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 0.59% to 10,550.49.
Goldman Sachs GS.N rose 1.4% after it said its trading
revenue doubled in the second quarter, driven by big swings in
stock and bond markets since March. Morgan Stanley MS.N and Bank of America BAC.N gained
nearly 2% ahead of their results on Thursday. The broader
banking index .SPXBK climbed 2.9%.
UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH.N fell 1.4% after warning of
rising costs later this year as Americans catch up on less
urgent surgeries halted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
5.23-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 4.31-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 78 new highs and three new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.0 billion shares, compared
with the 11.7 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.