Wall St ends up on Bernanke comments, housing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday, rebounding from their worst decline since November, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus and sales of new homes hit a 4 1-2-year high.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average shot up 115.96 points, or 0.84 percent, to end unofficially at 13,900.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 9.10 points, or 0.61 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,496.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 13.40 points, or 0.43 percent, to close unofficially at 3,129.65.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)