U.S. stocks rise, helped by rebound in battered oil prices

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Tuesday, buoyed by energy shares as oil prices rebounded off multi-year lows, as investors digested mixed U.S. data about home resales and economic growth.

The U.S. dollar fell for a third consecutive session.

Oil prices enjoyed a respite from a slide this month that has deepened a 1-1/2-year collapse. U.S. crude prices rose 1.1 percent to $36.21 a barrel, while Brent added 0.3 percent to $36.44 a barrel.

Wall Street has been closely correlated with energy prices in recent weeks as the commodity has plumbed new lows.

"The oil price is still the big driver of market sentiment at the moment for stock markets, but I'm not sure if it will hold above those lows, given the concerns about a glut of supply," said Hantec Markets' analyst Richard Perry.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 43.19 points, or 0.25 percent, to 17,294.81, the S&P 500 gained 4.83 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,025.98 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.75 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,973.68.

The S&P energy sector index rose 1.5 percent and led all other sectors.

Shares of oil majors Chevron and Exxon Mobil rose 1.5 percent and 0.5 percent respectively and were among the biggest positive influences on the benchmark S&P 500.

"I think the main thing that markets are going to be looking at today is the whole deal with oil," said Matthew Tuttle, chief executive, Tuttle Tactical Management in Stamford, Connecticut.

The pan-European stock index edged up 0.1 percent. Spain's IBEX rose 0.8 percent, rebounding off Monday's nearly three-month lows on fears of political instability after the most inconclusive election in the country's history.

MSCI's all-country world index rose 0.4 percent.

Investors digested mixed data out of the United States.

U.S. home resales posted their sharpest drop in five years in November, according to the National Association of Realtors, in a potential warning sign for the U.S. economy.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed the country's gross domestic product grew at a 2.0 percent annual pace in the third-quarter, a fairly healthy clip, supported by strong consumer and business spending.

U.S. Treasury yields rose as the economic growth data reinforced a view that the Federal Reserve would proceed with a steady pace of interest rate increases next year.

"This data is a little better for the economy than expected, so that makes it less likely that (the Fed's) tightening program is going to be derailed," said David Coard, head of fixed income sales and trading at Williams Capital Group in New York.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were down 8/32 in price to yield 2.225 percent, from a yield of 2.197 percent late Monday. U.S. 30-year Treasury bonds were down 17/32 in price to yield 2.952 percent, from a yield of 2.925 percent late Monday.

The dollar index, which tracks against a basket of currencies, fell 0.3 percent. The euro rose 0.5 percent against the dollar.

"There's a lack of clear momentum for the dollar in the past week," said Brian Dangerfield, currency strategist at RBS Securities in Stamford, Connecticut.

Spot gold fell 0.3 percent after two sessions of gains.

(Additional reporting by Sam Forgione and Richard Leong in New York, Dhara Ranasinghe and Sudip Kar-Gupta in London, and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum)