Strong earnings, oil recovery drive indexes higher

By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - Wall Street rebounded sharply on Tuesday, driven by a surge in crude oil prices and strong results from industry heavyweights such as 3M, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

The Dow rose nearly 2 percent, while the S&P 500 was up 1.5 percent. All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the 3.64 percent rise in the energy sector.

Crude prices soared 6 percent on hopes that OPEC and non-OPEC producers would tackle an unrelenting supply glut. [O/R]

Investors are still reeling from a turbulent start to 2016, which saw Wall Street post its worst-ever start to a year, and a two-day recovery late last week was largely wiped out on Monday.

"I think the market is just oversold on a near-term basis," said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James Financial in Florida.

"We're getting a rally here and it's not because of any particular event," he said, adding that traders were likely taking up positions ahead of Apple's earnings report.

Shares of Apple, which is scheduled to report results after the close, were up 1 percent at $100.42. The iPhone maker's comments on its China business will be in sharp focus, amid broader concerns of a slowdown in demand.

At 12:35 p.m. ET (1735 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 292.7 points, or 1.84 percent, at 16,177.92, the S&P 500 was up 28.6 points, or 1.52 percent, at 1,905.68 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 57.10 points, or 1.26 percent, at 4,575.59.

While the U.S. Federal Reserve is not expected to move on interest rates at its two-day meeting, which begins on Tuesday, investors will parse the commentary to gauge the impact of the recent global turmoil on the central bank's outlook.

Exxon was the biggest influence on the S&P 500, rising 3.3 percent, while Chevron rose 4.1 percent.

3M was up 4.4 percent at $143.69, giving the biggest boost to the Dow, after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit.

Johnson & Johnson was up 3.5 percent at $99.74, while Procter & Gamble rose 2.3 percent to $78.64. Both companies reported profits that beat estimates.

Coach jumped 11.3 percent to $33.79 after it reported its first increase in sales in 10 quarters.

However, expectations of profit growth for the quarter are weak, with earnings at S&P 500 companies on average expected to fall 4.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,600 to 428. On the Nasdaq, 2,030 issues rose and 671 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed three new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded five new highs and 60 lows.

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