U.S. stocks rise on earnings optimism, dollar gains

By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 stock index hit a four-month high on Tuesday, boosted by higher oil prices and expectations for strong earnings, while the U.S. dollar rose against the safe-haven Japanese yen as investors bought riskier assets.

World share markets remained near three-week highs, supported by optimism about U.S. company earnings and the notion that global economic growth can withstand trade tensions.

"The market is in a very optimistic mood. The economic data is very strong and the labour markets are strong, and companies are making a lot of money," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 131.09 points, or 0.53 percent, to 24,907.68, the S&P 500 gained 8.28 points, or 0.30 percent, to 2,792.45 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.36 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,754.84.

Oil prices were choppy as price gains on supply concerns in Norway and Libya were tempered by the United States' indication that it would consider requests for waivers from Iranian oil sanctions.

U.S. crude oil futures settled at $74.11 per barrel, up 26 cents, or 0.35 percent. U.S. crude was last up 0.26 percent at $74.04 per barrel and Brent was last at $78.77, up 0.9 percent on the day.

U.S. companies are expected to report second-quarter earnings growth of over 20 percent across all sectors when earnings season kicks off this week, thanks to recent tax cuts, high oil prices and robust economic growth.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.40 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.21 percent.

U.S. Treasury yields rose further after a weak 3-year note auction causing the yield to flatten further with the spread between U.S. Treasury 5-year and 30-year yields contracting to under 20 basis points.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 2/32 in price to yield 2.8674 percent, from 2.86 percent late on Monday.

The risk-on sentiment nudged the U.S. dollar closer to a seven-week high against the yen . The greenback could be poised for a further boost if consumer price inflation figures come in higher than expected on Thursday.

The dollar index rose 0.09 percent, with the euro down 0.07 percent to $1.1741.

In Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan's new cabinet lacked market-friendly names and included instead his son-in-law as finance minister.

The Turkish lira gained ground. The U.S. dollar was down 0.5 percent against the lira .

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York, Sujata Rao in London, Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru, Kate Duguid in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler and Nick Zieminski)