U.S. STOCKS - Market climbs on retailers, financials

By Jennifer Coogan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as the kickoff to the holiday shopping season lifted retail stocks such as Target, while signs of progress in a plan to relieve credit market strain helped major banking stocks.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase were leading the Dow higher. The bank, along with Bank of America and Citigroup, is spearheading an effort to raise billions of dollars for a new fund to ease jitters in the credit market, the Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. financial markets were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, while on Wednesday stocks fell sharply on the latest signs of weakness in the credit market and housing sector.

"I think we're entitled to some sort of rebound. One piece of good news is that the banks are making progress with the rescue attempt" to help structured investment vehicles, said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co. "But I wouldn't read too much into it because it may be more a case of the sellers leaving early for the day."

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 111.36 points, or 0.87 percent, at 12,910.40. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 15.69 points, or 1.11 percent, at 1,432.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.29 points, or 0.67 percent, at 2,579.44.

The New York Stock Exchange will close early at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Friday.

JPMorgan shares were up 3.3 percent to $42.02. Bank of America stock was up 2.4 percent to $43.13 and Citigroup stock climbed 2.7 percent to $31.57.

Consumers, many with the day off from work, kicked off the holiday shopping season, some visiting stores before dawn. Chains refer to the day after Thanksgiving as "Black Friday" because it once marked the day many retailers turned a profit and went into the black for the year.