US stocks rose 1 percent on Tuesday as the latest batch of corporate earnings and data on manufacturing in New York state improved the profit and economic outlook. Commodity-related shares rose as the euro rebounded after recent losses against the dollar. Oil futures jumped $2.98 to $77.11 a barrel, boosting shares of energy companies, including Chevron Corp, up 2.4 percent at $72.70.
Shares of Merck & Co gained 3 percent to $38.03 after the drugmaker posted quarterly revenue ahead of analysts' estimates. Also helping sentiment, a gauge of manufacturing in New York state rose in February as inventories jumped, the New York Federal Reserve said in a report. The data easily beat a forecast. "The market is looking for evidence of economic growth now that earnings are just about over," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC, in Lisle, Illinois.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 119.26 points, or 1.18 percent, at 10,218.40. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 13.91 points, or 1.29 percent, at 1,089.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 21.67 points, or 0.99 percent, at 2,205.20.
The day's gains come after a three-day weekend, with the market closed on Monday for the US Presidents Day holiday. On the deal front, Simon Property Group Inc made what it called a $10 billion offer for the bankrupt General Growth Properties Inc, which would end one of the largest US bankruptcies on record. Simon Property was up 2.8 percent at $74.
Financial stocks got an early boost from Britain's Barclays Plc which said it had started the year well after beating forecasts with 2009 profit of $18.2 billion. Bank of America jumped 3 percent to $14.89. On the Nasdaq, shares of chipmaker Intel rose 1.8 percent to $20.79 after a brokerage raised its rating on the stock. A nuclear energy exchange-traded fund rose 2.4 percent to $21.63 as President Obama announced $8 billion in loan guarantees to build the first US nuclear plant in three decades.
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