Tuesday's early trade: Wall Street jumps

Wall Street jumped on Tuesday as hopes that President Donald Trump could move to ease coronavirus-induced lockdowns overshadowed dismal quarterly earnings reports from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

White House adviser Larry Kudlow said Trump would make a number of "key, vital" announcements about re-opening the US economy in the next day or two as the health crisis appeared to be ebbing, but some state governors have said the decision to re-start businesses lies with them.

"There is belief that we're past the worst part of the pandemic and every single day it's just being bolstered further," said Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at INTL FCStone Financial Inc in New York.

JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co fell 3.4% and 4.4% respectively, after rising in early trading, as first-quarter profits plunged with both banks setting aside billions of dollars to cover potential loan-losses from the pandemic.

Coronavirus-fueled uncertainty also forced Johnson & Johnson to cut its 2020 adjusted profit forecast, but its shares rose 4.1% as it boosted its quarterly dividend, signaling financial stability at a time when a slate of blue-chip firms have suspended dividends to shore up cash reserves.

At 11:48 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 422.36 points, or 1.81%, at 23,813.13, the S&P 500 was up 60.41 points, or 2.19%, at 2,822.04 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 241.14 points, or 2.94%, at 8,433.56.

A 4.2% jump for Apple Inc put the tech-heavy Nasdaq on course for a fourth straight day of gains as data showed iPhone shipments to China rebounded slightly in March after crashing in February.

Tesla Inc surged 11.5% and was among the top boosts to the Nasdaq after brokerage Credit Suisse upgraded the electric carmaker's stock to "neutral".