S&P buoyed by commodity sectors; eyes on Apple earnings

By Rodrigo Campos

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 ticked up on Tuesday, buoyed by gains in the energy and materials sectors as soft economic data weakened the dollar, giving support to oil and gold prices.

The greenback fell after orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rebounded far less than expected in March as demand for cars, computers and appliances slumped. Consumers appeared a bit pessimistic on the economy's short-term outlook and sent a measure of confidence lower.

The data came as Federal Reserve officials started a two-day policy meeting. Policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady but may be more upbeat on the economic outlook, leaving the path open for future rate hikes.

"Commodities and oil are up, the dollar trending lower, the things that started this rally are still there but there's a pause on temporary uncertainties," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.

"Technical resistance, weaker data, uncertainty about the Fed, weak earnings numbers are giving people pause."

He said it is encouraging for market bulls that the S&P is holding near the record high it set almost a year ago after a 15 percent rally from the lows in February.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.08 points, or 0.07 percent, to 17,990.32, the S&P 500 gained 3.91 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,091.7 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 7.48 points, or 0.15 percent, to 4,888.31.

The S&P 500 has ended little changed since last Thursday, with sector gains and losses hinging on the direction of oil prices for the day. The energy sector <.SPNY>, up 1.4 percent, was posting the biggest gains on Tuesday, tracking a 3.3 percent increase in the price of U.S crude futures .

Apple was expected to report its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years. Its stock, the heaviest weight on the S&P and the Nasdaq 100, is seen moving 4.7 percent in any direction by Friday as foreshadowed by activity in the options market. Shares were down 0.7 percent at $104.35 during the regular session.

First-quarter earnings from S&P 500 components are expected to have fallen 7.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Of the 166 companies that have reported, 59 percent reported revenue above analyst expectations, just short of the average 60 percent since 2002.

DuPont rose 2.4 percent to $67.55 as the largest gainer on the Dow industrials after it said it is aiming to buy back $2 billion in shares this year.

Dow components 3M and Procter & Gamble were down 1.3 percent and 2.3 percent respectively after reporting declining sales.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 3.4-to-1 and on the Nasdaq a 1.7-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq recorded 60 new highs and 24 new lows.

About 6.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared to the 6.9 billion average over the past 20 sessions.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)