Wall Street climbs as tech, internet stocks bounce back

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after a brutal two-day selloff, led by a rebound in beaten-down internet, technology and energy shares ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The pressure on technology stocks appeared to have eased, with the S&P technology index <.SPLRCT> rising 1.1 percent after three sessions of declines, while internet shares bounced back as well.

Facebook Inc , Apple Inc , Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc all rose, while Netflix Inc edged lower.

The S&P energy index <.SPNY> rose 1.9 percent as oil prices steadied after a 6 percent plunge the previous day.

Retailers also bounced back, with the S&P retail index <.SPXRT> on track to break an eight-session string of losses, as Foot Locker Inc surged 14.8 percent after the footwear retailer's quarterly same-store sales trumped expectations and boosted other sports retailers.

Worries about slowing global growth and peaking corporate earnings have sapped risk appetite in recent months, throwing into doubt the longevity of the decade-old bull run for stocks.

"This is not a bad economy," said Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York. "The data on the economy should support a higher market going into the end of the year."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99.38 points, or 0.41 percent, to 24,565.02, the S&P 500 gained 17.49 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,659.38 and the Nasdaq Composite added 89.75 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,998.57.

Shares of Dick's Sporting Goods Inc , Hibbett Sports Inc and Nike Inc , a Foot Locker supplier, all gained.

Gap Inc rose 5.3 percent after several Wall Street brokerages took positively to Chief Executive Arthur Peck's more aggressive plan to close underperforming stores, which is expected to eliminate significant losses.

Gains in Foot Locker and Gap helped push the S&P consumer discretionary <.SPLRCD> index 1.2 percent higher.

Autodesk Inc jumped 10.3 percent after the software company reported third-quarter results above analysts' estimates and announced an $875 million deal to buy cloud-based software company PlanGrid.

A report by capital markets-focused MNI saying the Federal Reserve may pause its interest rate-hiking cycle as early as spring could also be supporting the markets, some market experts said.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.34-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.17-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 11 new highs and 75 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and James Dalgleish)