US STOCKS-Market opens higher on profit optimism

(Updates to open)

NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose at the open on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and two other Dow companies posted quarterly results that eased fears a weak economy and the credit crisis would stifle corporate profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 38.60 points, or 0.34 percent, at 11,277.88. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 3.19 points, or 0.26 percent, at 1,248.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 11.01 points, or 0.48 percent, at 2,295.86.

(Reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Kenneth Barry)