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US STOCKS-Wall St gains on earnings, M&A deals

* Intel climbs on earnings, outlook

* Bank of America profit drops; stock slips

* Time Warner (Xetra: A0RGAY - news) rebuffs $80 bln bid from 21st Century Fox

* Indexes up: Dow 0.4 pct, S&P 0.5 pct, Nasdaq 0.5 pct (Updates to afternoon session)

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged up on Wednesday with the Dow industrial average hitting a new intraday high, buoyed by the latest merger news.

Time Warner shares jumped 17.1 percent to $83.15 as the best performer on the S&P 500 after Twenty-First Century Fox confirmed it made an $80 billion takeover offer for the company that was turned down. Twenty-First Century Fox shares lost 4.5 percent to $33.60.

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Also supporting gains was chipmaker Intel, which climbed 7.8 percent to $34.17 following second-quarter results that topped analysts' estimates. The company also forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street's expectations.

"We've now come through the earlier stage of the earnings season, and while they (earnings) haven't been stellar, they certainly have been good with just a few real disappointments," said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"The market held back from moving higher for awhile but the overall good earnings and M&A deals are giving greater confidence for investors to stay invested."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 74.87 points or 0.44 percent, to 17,135.55, the S&P 500 gained 8.82 points or 0.45 percent, to 1,982.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 19.91 points or 0.45 percent, to 4,436.29.

A partnership struck between IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) and Apple Inc (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) helped boost indexes. IBM will exclusively sell iPhones and iPads loaded with applications geared at enterprise clients this fall. IBM shares gained 2.3 percent to $192.89 as the Dow's biggest boost, while Apple advanced 0.8 percent to $96.10.

The S&P technology sector gained 1.2 percent.

S&P 500 companies' profits are now expected to grow 4.8 percent in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data, down from the 8.4 percent growth forecast at the start of April. Revenue is seen up 3.1 percent.

Bank of America lost 1.8 percent to $15.52. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets reported a 43 percent drop in second-quarter profit as mortgage revenue fell and litigation costs increased. The bank also offered $13 billion to settle a probe into mortgage securities it sold, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yahoo (NasdaqGS: YHOO - news) shares slumped 4.7 percent to $33.94 after disappointing results and outlook, although the company pledged to pay shareholders at least half the proceeds from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's (IPO-BABA.N) mega-IPO this fall.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee that she saw sufficient growth to support gains in the labor market and that credit growth and leverage were at moderate levels. (Reporting by Angela Moon)