Wall Street rebounds on strong earnings, Dell to go private

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow breaking above 14,000, as earnings came in stronger than expected and investors sought bargains a day after shares' biggest drop since November.

Dell Inc's stock rose after the world's No. 3 computer maker agreed to be taken private in a $24.4 billion deal, the largest leveraged buyout since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The stock gained 0.9 percent to $13.39 after a delayed open.

Major stock indexes fell about 1 percent in Monday's session, pressured by renewed worries over the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Still, equities have been strong performers recently, with the benchmark S&P 500 index up about 5 percent for 2013.

Wall Street has advanced on strong fourth-quarter earnings and signs of improved economic growth, suggesting the market's longer-term trend remains higher.

"For the last couple of weeks, we've been seeing this global divergence where the U.S. market remains powerful but overseas emerging markets are pretty weak," said James Dailey, portfolio manager at TEAM Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

"We seem to be in this manic buying period, and people are reluctant to give up the optimism that the market is going to move higher."

Archer Daniels Midland reported revenue and adjusted fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, boosted by strong global demand for oilseeds. Shares rose 4.6 percent to $29.75.

Estee Lauder Cos Inc gained 7 percent to $65.34 after reporting results.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 53 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings thus far, 69 percent have beaten profit expectations, over the 62 percent average since 1994 and the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 4.5 percent, according to the data, above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season but well below the 9.9 percent forecast on October 1.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 118.24 points, or 0.85 percent, at 13,998.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 13.95 points, or 0.93 percent, at 1,509.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 31.12 points, or 0.99 percent, at 3,162.29.

The S&P is less than 5 percent away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09, reached in October 2011.

McGraw-Hill extended its Monday decline, slumping 5.4 percent to $47.55 as the U.S. Justice Department launched a civil lawsuit against the company and its unit, Standard & Poor's, over mortgage bond ratings. The action marks the first such federal action against a credit rating agency related to the financial crisis.

The stock has dropped more than 20 percent over the past two days.

U.S. shares of BP Plc rose 1.3 percent to $44.18 after the company reported earnings that beat expectations and said underlying financial momentum would be "strongly evident" by 2014.

The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index was 55.2 in January, as expected and down slightly from the previous month.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)