* Morgan Stanley jumps on results, lifts financials
* Transport stocks gain, led by Union Pacific
* Progress on U.S., Greek debt deals underpin gains
* Indexes up: Dow 1.2 pct, S&P 1.4 pct, Nasdaq 0.7 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to midafternoon, adds comment, changes byline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday, powered by financials after Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected results and on apparent progress on debt deals in Europe and the United States.
Financials led all S&P sectors, boosted by Morgan Stanley
The KBW Capital Markets index <.KSX> rose 2.8 percent and Morgan Stanley surged 11.4 percent to $24.20. For details, see [ID:nN1E76K03J] and [ID:nN1E76K0Y5]
"You've got a bunch of items that at least short term have given buyers reason to buy and some sellers reason to step away from selling, (giving) a lift to the market," said Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist at Dahlman Rose in New York.
"The fact financials are getting a bid and outperforming for a couple of days, the potential for some type of temporary workout for the Greek default situation and the fact that we seemingly here in the U.S. are getting potentially closer to solving the problem of the debt ceiling" are helping stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 147.92 points, or 1.18 percent, to 12,719.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 17.95 points, or 1.35 percent, to 1,343.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 20.22 points, or 0.72 percent, to 2,834.45.
Stocks moved to session highs after the White House said it saw momentum for a "balanced" deficit deal, but denied reports that U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican U.S. House of Representatives speaker John Boehner were close to a pact. [ID:nN1E76K1BO]
Standard & Poor's were to meet with first-term Republican lawmakers to discuss what could cause the rating agency to downgrade the country's top credit rating, a source said. [ID:nN1E76K1AV]
Euro zone leaders were set to give a financial rescue fund sweeping new powers to prevent contagion and help Greece overcome its debt crisis, according to the draft conclusions of an emergency summit. [ID:nL6E7IK2VL]
Transportation shares also led the market after Union
Pacific Corp
Biotechnology issues also moved higher. Alexion
Pharmaceuticals Inc
On the downside, Dow component Intel Corp