US STOCKS-Energy leads Wall St rebound; S&P has best day since Dec

(Updates to close)

* S&P 500 back above 1,900

* Crude oil up; energy sector leads rally

* JPMorgan (LSE: JPIU.L - news) up after Q4 results beat; financials gain

* Indexes up: Dow 1.4 pct, S&P 1.7 pct, Nasdaq (NasdaqGS: NDAQ - news) 2 pct

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Jan 14 (Reuters) - A rally in battered energy shares led U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stocks to rebound on Thursday, while financials rose after upbeat results from JPMorgan Chase & Co (Xetra: 850628 - news) .

The S&P 500 had its biggest daily percentage gain since December and ended back above 1,900.

Though the market finished off its highs for the day, analysts said some investors see a bottom in energy shares, which were among the most heavily sold shares in the market's rout that began at the start of the year.

The S&P energy sector shot up 4.5 percent, its best percentage gain since late August.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Exxon Mobil (Swiss: XOM.SW - news) surged 4.6 percent to $79.12 while Chevron (Swiss: CVX.SW - news) jumped 5.1 percent to $85.47, among the biggest boosts to the Dow and S&P 500. U.S. and Brent oil prices ended more than 2 percent higher.

Also rebounding were biotechs, with the Nasdaq Biotech Index ending up 4.0 percent.

"You have had people trying to pick a bottom both in the energy commodity itself and energy shares a few times in this long slide down and again today," said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

He said exchange-traded funds may have bought energy stocks, forcing short-sellers to cover positions.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 227.64 points, or 1.41 percent, to 16,379.05, the S&P 500 had gained 31.56 points, or 1.67 percent, to 1,921.84 and the Nasdaq Composite had added 88.94 points, or 1.97 percent, to 4,615.00.

The S&P 500 remains down 9.8 percent from its May 21, 2015, record closing high, and analysts said plenty of caution remains, thanks to lingering concerns about demand for oil and a slowdown in the global economy.

Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta (BSE: ATLANTA.BO - news) , said he does not see stocks headed for a bear market, adding that upbeat earnings reports from tech and other companies could put the market on stronger footing.

JPMorgan rose 1.5 percent to $58.20 on better-than-expected results. Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) , Wells Fargo (Hanover: NWT.HA - news) , Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) and Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) also rose.

Chipotle was up 6.1 percent at $454.30 after the company expressed confidence in preventing future food poisoning outbreaks at its chains.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,079 to 1,005, for a 2.07-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,961 issues rose and 899 fell for a 2.18-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week high and 115 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 6 new highs and 439 new lows. (Editing by Frances Kerry and Nick Zieminski)