J.C. Penney stock jumps following influential tweet

(Reuters) - Shares of J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) jumped almost 10 percent briefly on Wednesday after a well-known fashion editor sent a glowing message about the department store's revamp under chief executive Ron Johnson on social networking website Twitter.

"I'm @jcpenney's HQ. Thank you Ron Johson (sic) for the walk through of JCP's prototype. Get ready to shop! Its (sic) going to be a game changer!" Nina Garcia, Marie Claire magazine fashion editor and judge on television show "Project Runway", said in a tweet.

Garcia also signed on last week as J.C. Penney's "Style Voice" and fashion collection curator.

Penney shares rose to as much as $23.09. The stock was up 4.9 percent at $22.02 later on Wednesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange.

TD Ameritrade chief derivatives strategist J.J. Kinahan pointed to the message in explaining the share spike.

"With that we saw the stock go sharply higher" along with increased buying in call options, a bullish play, Kinahan said.

Some analysts questioned whether the tweet by Garcia caused the stock move, but could not point to another reason for the jump.

A J.C. Penney spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman and Doris Frankel in Chicago; Editing by Dale Hudson)