NEW YORK: The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes gained on Tuesday, inching closer to ending their best quarter since 1998 as improving economic data restored faith in a stimulus-backed rebound for the US economy.

Kicking off a data-heavy week for Wall Street, figures on Tuesday showed US consumer confidence increased much more than expected in June. Data on manufacturing activity and employment are due on Wednesday and Thursday.

Still, analysts warned portfolio rebalancing at the end of the quarter could lead to choppy trading through the session.

The benchmark S&P 500 has rebounded nearly 19% since April on a raft of fiscal and monetary stimulus and the easing of lockdown restrictions, but is still down about 5% on the year as a flare-up in virus cases threatened to delay reopenings and derail a tentative economic recovery.

At 11:11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 60.79 points, or 0.24%, at 25,656.59, the S&P 500 was up 23.34 points, or 0.76%, at 3,076.58, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 108.17 points, or 1.10%, at 9,982.33.