Wall Street rallies back with earnings boost

By Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged on Tuesday after upbeat earnings reports from major companies including UnitedHealth and Goldman Sachs and solid economic data, as equities rebounded from a recent sharp sell-off.

Wall Street's three major indexes gained more than 1.5 percent each, with the Nasdaq up well over 2 percent.

Technology, which sold off heavily in the recent pullback, led the gains as all 11 major sectors were positive.

The gains marked a partial recovery from Wall Street's recent steep slump. The S&P 500 last week posted its biggest weekly drop since March after a spike in bond yields and fresh concerns about global trade tensions.

"It's mostly an oversold bounce," Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird in Milwaukee, said of Tuesday's gains.

"The degree of the move is a function of the moves we have seen already this month more than anything else."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 465.52 points, or 1.84 percent, to 25,716.07, the S&P 500 gained 50.11 points, or 1.82 percent, to 2,800.9 and the Nasdaq Composite added 181.82 points, or 2.45 percent, to 7,612.56.

The technology sector gained 2.6 percent while healthcare rose 2.5 percent. Those two groups have led the S&P 500's advance this year.

Investors are expecting another strong quarter of corporate profits, hoping the reports can calm nerves following concerns over tariffs and rising bond yields. Third-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to have climbed 21.8 percent, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected quarterly profits, helped by strength in stock trading and equity underwriting, wrapping up a strong quarter for the big U.S. banks. Goldman shares rose 2.4 percent, while Morgan Stanley shares gained 5.3 percent.

In healthcare, shares of diversified product company Johnson & Johnson rose 1.5 percent, while insurer UnitedHealth Group gained 4.0 percent following their respective quarterly reports.

Adobe shares jumped 8.3 percent following the software company's analyst meeting, adding to the day's upbeat sentiment for tech.

On the downside, BlackRock shares dropped 4.8 percent after the world's biggest asset manager reported its lowest sales of equity, bond and other long-term investments since the second quarter of 2016.

Shares of industrial distributor W W Grainger tumbled 13.6 percent after its report.

In economic data, U.S. industrial production increased for a fourth straight month in September, boosted by gains in manufacturing and mining output, while other data showed job openings hit a record high in August.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 5.48-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.80-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 7 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 16 new highs and 61 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Nick Zieminski)