Indexes up on strong earnings, rising oil prices

By Abhiram Nandakumar

REUTERS - Wall Street edged higher on Tuesday morning, driven by strong earnings reports and recovering oil prices, ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting and Apple's results.

Crude prices steadied above $30 a barrel on hopes that OPEC and non-OPEC producers would come together to tackle a massive supply glut.

Investors are still reeling from a turbulent start to the year, which saw Wall Street post its worst-ever start to a new year. A recovery late last week was largely wiped out on Monday as a fall in energy and materials stocks pulled indexes lower.

"It's going to go back and forth, and it looks like it's going to depend on what the price of oil does today," said Matthew Tuttle, chief executive, Tuttle Tactical Management in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"Expect more of the usual - lots of volatility - and it will be interesting to see if the bulls rally this thing or the bears try to sell it off," Tuttle said, adding that the Fed would be a wild card.

While the Fed is not expected to move on interest rates at its two-day meeting this week, investors will parse the commentary to gauge the impact of the recent global turmoil on the central bank's outlook.

At 9:37 a.m. ET (1437 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 146.28 points, or 0.92 percent, at 16,031.5, the S&P 500 was up 13.27 points, or 0.71 percent, at 1,890.35 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 17.60 points, or 0.39 percent, at 4,536.09.

All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the 1.47 percent rise in the energy sector. Exxon and Chevron were the biggest influences.

Dow component 3M was up 3.4 percent at $142.17, giving the biggest boost to the Dow, while Procter & Gamble powered the S&P 500 with a 2.3 percent rise to $78.62, after their quarterly profits trumped estimates.

Shares of Coach jumped 7.9 percent to $32.75 after the handbag maker reported its first rise in quarterly sales in 10 quarters.

Apple is scheduled to report quarterly results after the close, as is AT&T. The iPhone maker's comments on its China business will be in sharp focus, amid broader concerns of a slowdown in demand. Apple was down half a percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,262 to 481. On the Nasdaq, 1,486 issues rose and 656 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed two new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded two new highs and 23 lows.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)