NEW YORK: Wall Street's main indexes climbed on Tuesday on growing signs that US lawmakers were making headway in their talks over stimulus to support an economic recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was optimistic Democrats could reach a deal with the White House that could get aid out by early next month. She added there should be an indication of a possible agreement later on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the third-quarter earnings season has gathered momentum. Of the 66 S&P 500 companies that have reported results, 86.4% have topped expectations for earnings, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Property and casualty insurer Travelers Cos Inc gained 5.2% as it beat quarterly profit expectations, while consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co advanced 0.7% as it raised its full-year sales and earnings forecasts.

All 11 major S&P sectors were up, with financials, industrials and consumer discretionary stocks rising over 1%. At 12:46 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 249.70 points, or 0.89%, at 28,445.12 and the S&P 500 was up 33.38 points, or 0.97%, at 3,460.30. The Nasdaq Composite was up 98.53 points, or 0.86%, at 11,577.41.

Netflix Inc dipped 0.5% ahead of its third-quarter earnings report. International Business Machines Corp edged past estimates for quarterly revenue on Monday, bolstered by higher demand for its cloud services. The company's shares, however, fell 5.9% after it stayed away from issuing a current-quarter outlook, citing economic uncertainty related to the pandemic.