US STOCKS-Wall St jumps as investors snap up energy, biotechs

(Updates to late afternoon)

* S&P 500 reclaims key 1,900 mark

* Crude oil up; energy sector leads rally

* JPMorgan up after Q4 results beat; financials gain

* Indexes up: Dow 1.9 pct, S&P 2.1 pct, Nasdaq (NasdaqGS: NDAQ - news) 2.6 pct

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Jan 14 (Reuters) - U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stocks rebounded sharply in late Thursday trading as investors snapped up battered energy and other shares, while financials rose after upbeat results from JPMorgan.

The S&P energy sector shot up 4.4 percent, on track for its best day since late August, while shares of Exxon Mobile surged 5.2 percent, also the biggest percentage gain since August, while Chevron (Swiss: CVX.SW - news) jumped 5.4 percent.

The Nasdaq Biotech Index rose 4.5 percent, while the S&P 500 index traded above 1,900.

Energy and biotechs have been among the most heavily sold shares in the market's selloff that began at the start of the year. Concern about demand for oil and a slowdown in the global economy sparked the downward move.

"We are rallying now which is somewhat encouraging," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta (BSE: ATLANTA.BO - news) , adding that he doesn't see stocks headed for a bear market.

"The question is will this hold." He said upbeat earnings reports from tech and other companies could put the market on stronger footing.

JPMorgan rose 2.2 percent to $58.62 on better-than-expected results, boosting the financial sector by 0.8 percent.

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. Intel (Swiss: INTC.SW - news) , due to report after the close, was up 2.9 percent at $32.85.

At 2:56 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 300.38 points, or 1.86 percent, to 16,451.79, the S&P 500 had gained 40.04 points, or 2.12 percent, to 1,930.32 and the Nasdaq Composite had added 116.68 points, or 2.58 percent, to 4,642.75.

U.S. stocks have tumbled this year and on Wednesday sank more than 2.5 percent, pushing the S&P 500 to close below 1,900 for the first time since Sept. 29.

Also surging, Chipotle was up 7.3 percent at $459.40 after the company expressed confidence in preventing future food poisoning outbreaks at its chains. (Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Frances Kerry)